DEPARTMENT OP EDUCATION— THE CITY OF 

NEW YORK 



REPORT UPON DIVISIONS 4 AND 5 

ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 
BROOKLYN 



William McAndrew 
Division Superintendent 



July 1, 1915 



DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION— THE CITY OF 

NEW YORK 



REPORT UPON DIVISIONS 4 AND 5 

ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 
BROOKLYN 



William McAndrew 
Division Superintendent 



July 1, 1915 




D. Of By 

EC 22 I* i 






V*V 



2309— 1,000— '15— (L & I.) 






< 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 

(Index follows the report) 



paragraph 

Ptjepose op Organization by Divisions 3 

What a Division Report Should Be 7 

New Features in Brooklyn — Vocational, Gary System 10-13 

Criticism of School Results — "Graduates cannot write, spell or 

figure" 15-16 

Ability Tests by Employers 17-23 

Self-Correction 24-26 

Value of the Department Store Test 27-29 

Influence of Examiner 30 

Guesses and Results 31 

Variations in Schools 32 

The Knack and the Pleasure 33-35 

Interest and Drill 36 

Exhibitions of Ability 38 

Use of the Criticisms of the Year 40 

What a Brooklyn Graduate Should Be — Suggestions from vari- 
ous sources 41-45 

What a School and a Principal Are For — Analysis of human 

products. Working by plan 45-49 

The Science of Supervision — Underlying principles 49 

Ideals and Revisions — Professional facilities and work in Brook- 
lyn. The Brooklyn Teachers' Association. A publication needed. 

Saturday conference 50-58 

Efficiency Standards — Periodic inspections. Rating a principal. 

Judgment of results 59-70 

Instances of Efficient Organization — Care of Buildings. Fire 

drills. Saengerfest. Flag Day 71-77 

Principal's Increased Responsibility 78-79 

Obedience and Originality 80-81 

3 



TABLE OF CONTENTS— Continued 

paragraph 

Where a Principal Ought to Be 82-83 

Reduction of Clerical Work 84-89 

Cheering the Principal — Depreciation of salary requires offset. . 90 

Efficiency Records of Graduates — Present records obsolete. 

Suggested substitutes. Guarantee of employers 91-97 

Efficiency Records of Teachers — Lack of standards. Too sub- 
jective. Rating system not used as intended. A teacher's work 
tested by pupils' attainment 98-102 

Efficiency Rewards — Relation between work and pay. Stagna- 
tion from automatic increase. Criticism by teachers' and prin- 
cipals' organizations. Obligation for present salary schedules, 
small number of non-meritorious ratings. Vulnerability of school 
system to attack, encouragement of mediocrity. Definite pro- 
posals. Stiffening required 103-111 

Discipline of Staff — Large measures neglected for attention to 
petty personal grievances. Reasons why more businesslike man- 
agement of complaints is needed. The fair deal. Waste in oral 
complaints. Anonymous letters 112-114 

Costs — Schoolmaster's isolation from financial policies of the sys- 
tem. Cost of a school per minute. Waste at opening and close 
of terms 115 

i'School System All Wrong — Specific criticism not sweeping con- 
demnation. Exactness of definition needed 116 

ISUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS 119-120 



Department of Education 

The City oe New Yore: 

The Board of Superintendents 

July 30, 1915. 
Hon. Thomas W. Churchill, 

President, Board of Education, 

500 Park Avenue, New York City. 

My dear Mr. Churchill : 

I have the honor to transmit herewith a copy of my report to 
the City Superintendent of Schools for the school year 1914-1915. 

Yours very truly, 

Wm. McAndrew, 

Associate City Superintendent. 

July 1, 1915. 
Dr. William H. Maxwell, 

City Superintendent of Schools. 
Dear Sir: 

1. On June 4th, the Acting City Superintendent, John H. 
Walsh, directed me to submit to you not later than July 6th, a 
report upon Division Work and School Luncheons. I was assigned 
by you on November 16, 1914, to Divisions 4 and 5 comprising 
Districts 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39 and 40, 
Borough of Brooklyn, including only elementary schools. 

2. The size and reputation of this group of schools require an 
extensive report. The number of children attending is larger than 
that of any other Borough. The history of Brooklyn schools is 
marked by a high reputation throughout the United States. 
Churches, homes and schools have been Brooklyn's boast for many 
years. Public interest in education is more alive than in any com- 
munity I know of. All the Brooklyn newspapers pay unusual at- 
tention to schools. The public turns out for school exercises in 
large numbers. No apology ought to be necessary for the length 
of any report on the Brooklyn divisions. 



Purpose of Organization or Divisions 

3. As I understand the system, Divisions are constituted "for 
purposes of administration and supervision of the schools." A 
superintendent is assigned to a division as its representative in the 
Board of Superintendents. (By-Laws, Section 40, paragraph 4.) 
"The District Superintendents, and through them the schools in 
their respective districts, are made directly responsible to an Asso- 
ciate City Superintendent, who, in turn, is responsible for the 
educational welfare of his division of the city. The Division Super- 
intendent under this plan is supposed to represent directly in the 
Board of Superintendents the interests of the schools under his 
charge." The purpose of this plan is to give the teachers and the 
people a more direct representation in the Board of Superintend- 
ents. (Fifth Annual Eeport, City Superintendent, page 13.) 

4. On assignment you advised me that the superintendents of 
these districts would be under your direction and supervision, would 
make their reports to you and would receive their directions from 
yourself. 

5. Since three years before my assignment to the Brooklyn 
divisions the District Superintendents have been largely isolated 
from relation to Division Superintendents. To make use of a 
graphic scheme of organization, the relation of schools and superin- 
tendents is this: 



CITY SUPERINTENDENT 



i-i 



(Schoolsl |Schoola| |Schools| ISchoolsj ISchoolsl |Schools| |Schools| 



|Diatrict| |Districtj |District| |District| |District| |District| |District| JDJvision 
Supt. I Supt. | Supt. | I Supt. ! Supt. f I Supt. | Supt. | I Supt 



6. The superintendents whose districts constitute the divisions 
assigned to me meet in regular conferences directed by the City 

6 



Superintendent. The conclusion of these conferences are not known 
to me either by participation or by subsequent report. "Adminis- 
tration and supervision of the schools" is somewhat intricate, deli- 
cate and perplexing in these circumstances in order to avoid what 
is considered by writers on supervision as a vicious condition; 
supervision by authorities mutually ignorant of one another's pur- 
poses. The situation existed before my assignment to Divisions 4 
and 5 and is alluded to in order that this report of those divisions 
may be interpreted in accordance with present conditions. This 
will explain the absence of reference to the work of District Super- 
intendents and the fact that a considerable part of the report is 
concerned with theoretical considerations. 



What a Division Eeport Should Be 

7. Official expectation of what such a division report should be, 
I find in Board of Education Document Number Six, 1912, page 4 : 

8. "A report by a division superintendent is obviously a record 
of specific information with reference to the pupils under the care 
of that part of the educational system assigned to him. Apparently 
the division heads are left to themselves and may report at random 
upon whatever has appealed to them without the direction of their 
attention definitely to certain essential functions common to all 
divisions." 

9. The following report is planned in accordance with the first 
part of the paragraph just quoted and takes advantage of the free- 
dom described in the last part. 

New Features 

10. During the year two radical departures have been made 
in the divisions. 

11. Elementary schools No. 5 and No. 158 were put upon new 
programmes involving attention to vocational pursuits. These 
schools were, with others in the city, put under the supervision of 
Associate Superintendent William L. Ettinger. Altho the work of 



these schools is covered in detail in Superintendent Ettinger's re- 
port, their influence upon the educational service of the borough 
requires reference to them here. The constructive exercises intro- 
duced into these schools, based upon a wide review of educational 
experiments in other cities, have thereby obtained an advantage 
which has freed the work of the year from much of the objection 
which not uncommonly impedes any departure from the usual edu- 
cational track. But the effect of increasing the number of self- 
expressive exercises has not only produced a pronounced enthusiasm 
in the boys and girls for this kind of work but has affected the old- 
line school subjects in a remarkable manner. The connection be- 
tween book-study and actual construction carried out in this new 
type of school has provided a new motive in class recitation which 
is evident. The visits of principals and teachers to these schools 
have created an active sentiment in the borough for more schools 
of this kind. Not only are the Brooklyn newspapers pronounced 
in commending the departure but principals and citizens are ask- 
ing that new school buildings when obtained shall be equipped for 
the type of school represented in these organizations. 

12. The Brooklyn Trade School for Boys, organized this year, 
is also reported on by Superintendent Ettinger. 

13. On November 6, 1914, Mr. William Wirt. Superintendent 
of Schools of Gary, Indiana, reorganized School Xo. 89 to secure 
for each child a six-hour day with opportunities of study, work, 
play, aud coordination of child-welfare agencies. The relief af- 
forded this congested school by the new programme is very marked. 
Even without the special equipment which is an essential part of 
the Gary system, the advantage to the children in this school is so 
evident that the new plan has proven well worth the change. In 
my visits to this school, I have been impressed with the spirit of 
principal and teachers, with the smooth running of the machinery 
and with the progress of the pupils. A description of the details 
has been printed for distribution by the Division of Eeference and 
Eesearch. 

14:. Facts regarding other educational interests in Brooklyn: 
high schools, training schools, cooperative work with employers, 

8 



special service for the blind, deaf, crippled, anaemic, retarded and 
delinquent, truancy, evening sessions, vacation schools and play- 
grounds, lectures, etc., appertaining to this division are reported 
upon hy the various officers to whom this work is assigned and are 
mentioned in this report only as they come into relation with the 
regular work of the elementary schools. 

Criticism of School Eesults 

15. "Specific information with reference to the pupils" of the 
divisions as concerned with "the administration and supervision" 
of the schools seems especially desirable this year on account of 
criticism of the education given and the cost of giving it. News- 
papers circulated in the divisions and newspapers published in them 
gave prominence to charges that the children "are not thoroughly 
grounded in anything." "Beading, writing and arithmetic are 
wofully neglected, though correct spelling, ability to figure, and 
legible writing are as essential today as ever before." "So many 
subjects have been crowded into the course of study that a thorough 
training in those few which are essential is impossible." "The 
defects are not confined to children who leave before they finish 
the course but exist in those who have the grammar school certifi- 
cates." "It is almost impossible now to get competent boys and 
girls, the natural conclusion is, the public schools are at fault." 
"The elementary school graduates cannot spell, write or figure be- 
cause they are victims of special courses and psychological peda- 
gogy." * One editor predicted that the schools would take the criti- 
cisms with smiling patience and cheerful philosophy. "The teach- 
ers will grin at each other out of the tails of their eyes when a man 
comes along to tell them they are not teaching the three E's." One 
public writer says "These charges are heard on all sides" ; another, 
"The schools have stood this a long time without attempting to 
refute it." An unusual amount of general criticism of the schools 
as extravagant consumers of taxes and able to do better public 

* The quotations are from published interviews with Mr. Michael 
Friedsam, President, B. Altaian & Co. and from editorial comment on 
them. 

9 



service than at present followed the specific complaints I have 
quoted. 

16. The progress of education in America has been due in great 
measure to active public interest stimulated by newspaper sugges- 
tions. The prominence given this year to the specific criticisms 
referred to calls for attention in order that the benefit intended by 
their publication may be secured. 

Ability Tests by Employees 

17. I submit an account of an investigation suggested by the 
criticisms upon elementary school graduates. 

18. Twenty-five elementary school principals in various parts 
of the Borough made a canvass to determine in what business 
houses their wage-earning graduates were engaged in the largest 
numbers. The two most extensive employers appearing from that 
canvass are Abraham and Straus and Frederick Loeser and Com- 
pany. The Superintendents of these firms were asked to give speci- 
men tasks most commonly required of elementary school graduates 
in their employ and bearing upon the ability of graduates "to write, 
to spell and to figure." These tasks are : 

18-1. Addition : a sum of about this difficulty : 



1.58 
.65 
.49 

2.98 
10.77 

1.38 

3.10 



18-2. Penmanship, multiplication, fractions, addition, filling 

10 



out a sales slip about like this one from dictation, computing the 
values and adding the amounts : 



Bought by 



ctfjenzy Wide 



64p (oladdon Cbve. 

cJctzooklyno 



Sales No. 

f63 



Carrier 
id 



Charge 
(8k, 



Date 

5ji6ji5 



Quantity 


Items 


Amount 


2 3J4 


C white Mace © 5yc 






3 


Spoold C Wkite Silk @ 10c 






f 3/4 


Hfthite Silk @ p3c 
































Amou 


nt 



18-3. Spelling, grammar, composition, general intelligence. 

"Write a letter to Hiram Moller, 275 Ocean Ave., Far Kockaway. 
He has bought a new house there. Invite him to look over our 
new stock of furnishings. Feature the most important ones. At- 
tract him to the store/' 

18-4. Attention. Carrying messages. 

"Have one person direct the messenger to tell the other person 
in a distant room that the letter sent by the former regarding re- 
pairs and referring to a list of them was received but there was no 
list enclosed. Get it." 

19. These tests I applied to pupils of the graduating classes of 
the Brooklyn divisions. Following are the results. 



11 



20. Test No. 1. Simple addition. 



Number tested 1023 

Number right 778 

Per cent right 76% 

Poorest class record 68% 

Best class record 91% 



21. Test No. 2. Penmanship, multiplication, fractions, addi- 
tion, sales slip. 

Number tested 962 

Number right 539 

Per cent right 66% 

Poorest class record 42% 

Best class record 92% 



22. Test No. 3. Grammatical Letter from Suggested Matter. 

Number tested 410 

Form, Appearance, Penmanship, on scale of 1T0 Perfect 

41 rated at 100 10% 

39 rated at 95 9.5% 

124 rated at 90 30.3% 

16 rated at 85 3.9% 

60 rated at 80 14.6% 

32 rated at 75 7.8% 

18 rated at 70 4.4% 

12 rated at 65 2.9% 

28 rated at 60 6 .8% 

36 rated at 50 8.8% 

4 rated at 40 1 % 

Errors in Spelling and Capitalization 

82 with errors. 20 % 

88 with 1 error 21 .5% 

70 with 2 errors 17 . 1% 

75 with 3 errors 18 .3% 

35 with 4 errors 8.5% 

31 with 5 errors 7.6% 

9 with 6 errors 2 .2% 

10 with 7 errors 2 .4% 

5 with 8 errors 1.2% 

3 with 9 errors .7% 

2 with 10 errors 5% 

12 



Errors in Punctuation 

110 with errors 26.8% 

49 with 1 error 12 % 

61 with 2 errors 14.9% 

40 with 3 errors 9 .8% 

67 with 4 errors 16 .3% 

53 with 5 errors 12.9% 

4 with 6 errors 1 % 

6 with 7 errors 1-5% 

10 with 8 errors 2 .4% 

6 with 9 errors 1.5% 

3 with 10 errors 7% 

1 with 11 errors .2% 

Blemishes, blots, erasures, corrections and words omitted or re-written 

58 with errors ' 14.2% 

22 with 1 error 5.4% 

106 with 2 errors 25 .9%. 

24 with 3 errors 5.9% 

142 with 4 errors 34 .6% 

28 with 5 errors 6 .8% 

9 with 6 errors ' 2.2% 

5 with 7 errors 1 .2% 

6 with 8 errors 1 .5% 

5 with 9 errors 1-2% 

3 with 10 errors 7% 

with 1 1 errors % 

1 with 12 errors 2% 

1 with 13 errors .2% 

23. Test No. 4. Carrying message. 

Number tested 91 

Number correct 56 

Per cent correct 62% 



Self Correction 

24. In the mathematical tests, tendency to prove the work be- 
fore handing it in was almost entirely lacking. There is in the 
children an idea that speed is valuable apart from correctness. I 
recall that from the tests given by S. A. Courtis he made the gen- 
eralization that the average accuracy of New York school children 
is very low, while the speed is above the average. That is, it takes 
us less time to get a thing wrong here than it does in the average 

13 



school system. I can not believe that an absurdity of this kind 
would not yield in great measure to organization of the Brooklyn 
divisions into a working unit to promulgate specific efficiencies in 
directions where investigation shows a common need and to pro- 
vide for systematic follow-up processes until the formation of 
habits of self-correction in mathematical work becomes a recog- 
nized obligation of every teacher and principal. In one school 
every column is required to be added up and down to an agree- 
ment before the adder attempts the next column. 

25. I can see the justice which leads some teachers to allow 
children some credit for correctness of method even when the result 
is wrong, but no school usage is more ridiculed by the lay critic. 
For him a wrong result is useless no matter how slowly or how 
quickly obtained. 

26. The school habit of accepting 60% as "satisfactory" is ridi- 
culed as tending to promulgate a 60% civilization. 



A - Value of the Departmext Store Test 

27. Without going into the question as to whether a school sys- 
tem is a failure whose "graduates can not spell, write or figure," 
one may enquire whether the tests proposed by the department 
store superintendents represent accomplishments which a principal 
of a school should be held responsible to secure in his graduates. 
There was opportunity of asking thirty-one principals that ques- 
tion specifically. Each answered independently that these are re- 
quirements which may fairly be exacted of him. Experiments 
were then made as to how long it would take to bring a graduating 
class to the point where its maximum efficiency in these abilities 
could be counted on. This problem was set for graduating class 
teachers of mathematics. "Teach self-correction of mathematical 
exercises of the kind proposed by the department-store superin- 
tendents. Note the time you spend each day and when the efficiency 
runs fairly constant, notify me to come and confirm your record 
by a similar test." 

14 



These are sample reports : 

28. Test No. 1. Easy addition. Self correction. 





Time Spent by 










Class and 


Number 


Number 


Per Cent 


Date 


Teacher 


Tested 


Right 


Right 


May 12 


.... 8 min. 


35 


28 


80 


13 




34 


30 


89 


14 


.... 5 min. 


35 


32 


92 


17 


.... 4 min. 


35 


31 


90 


18 




32 


31 


90 


19 




35 


34 


97 


20 


.... 5 min. 


35 


35 


100 


21 


.... 4 min. 


34 


34 


100 


24 




34 


34 


100 


25 


.... 3 min. 


34 


34 


100 


26 


.... 3 min. 

Test by Division 


34 


34 


100 


26 




34 


32 


94 . 



This class reached maximum efficiency for teacher's test in 31 
minutes distributed through six days. 

29. Test No. 2. Sales slip, penmanship, multiplication, frac- 
tions, addition, filling of headings. 





Time Spent by 










Class and 


Number 


Number 


Per Cent 


Date 


Teacher 


Tested 


Right 


Right 


May 12 


.... 15 min. 


30 


18 


61 


13 


.... 10 min. 


30 


22 


74 


14 


.... 10 min. 


30 


24 


80 


17 


.... 10 min. 


30 


22 


74 


18 


.... 12 min. 


29 


28 


96 


19 


.... 8 min. 


29 


28 


96 


20 


.... 8 min. 


30 


28 


93 


21 


.... 8 min. 


30 


29 


97 


24 


.... 8 min. 


33 


29 


97 


25 




29 


29 


100 


26 


.... 10 min. 


29 


28 


96 


27 




29 


29 


100 


28 




29 


29 


100 


28 


. . . .Test by Division 










Superintendent 


29 


28 


96 



This class reached maximum efficiency for teacher's test in one 
hour 47 minutes distributed through eleven days. 

15 



Influence of Examiner 

30. One of the principals, after a test by me, remarked that the 
presence of a stranger decreases the efficiency of the children. My 
test showed 82% correct. He gave an equivalent test in my pres- 
ence with a result of 97%. In one school the test given in "the 
grand manner" with apparent fear in some of the children secured 
a result of 62%. We then sang together "There's a light still 
burning in the window" and tried an equivalent test, securing a 
result of 90% and immediately after with one of the same sort we 
secured 96%. I give these apparently trivial details to support 
the opinion that our graduates can, by their employers, without 
much trouble, be found to have the ability to "spell, write and 
figure," and that our schools are able without strain to prepare 
graduates so that the principals can guarantee such ability and 
substantiate the guarantee by records of actual performance. Abil- 
ity that is at command under trying circumstances is so much of 
an asset that a test by a stranger is a valuable exercise. 

Guesses and Eesults 

31. In fifteen cases before giving the test it was shown to prin- 
cipals. Their estimate of the success of the class in it was ob- 
tained. Comparison of estimate with results runs like this — 

Principal's guess Actual result 

100% 73% 

95% 42% 

90% 73% 

etc. etc. 

No principal guessed so low as 73%. Most principals thought 
100% ought to be expected. 

"Variations in Schools 

32. There is no discoverable relation between the results and 
"the nature of the district" of the school. Very well-dressed chil- 

16 



dren ranked high and low. Poor neighborhoods showed similar 
diversity. But schools standing low, tested again, did not reach 
a high standard until more drill on these specific tasks had been 
given than was necessary in schools standing higher. That the 
graduating classes of any Brooklyn school should surprise their 
principals by so low a result as 42% on so simple a requirement 
and that all the classes with so small an expenditure of time so 
materially improved their record leads me to submit some observa- 
tions looking to organization of these divisions next year. 

Getting the Knack and the Pleasure 

33. Observers of habit formation have noticed that in learning 
to swim, to play tennis or cards or a musical instrument or to ride 
a bicycle there is a preliminary period of more or less discouraging 
attempts during which practice is mostly drudgery. This is also 
apparent in the study of foreign languages. After drill, often with 
apparent suddenness, the cells of the brain seem to group them- 
selves in new relations and one feels he has the knack. After this, 
practice is attended with much less dullness. I have seen this come 
in students of Latin and of geometry at different times for different 
boys. Observation of elementary school children inclines me to 
believe that many of them reach such a state that making combina- 
tions of quantities becomes pleasurable to them, and that the chil- 
dren who "do not like arithmetic" can, by skillful and sympathetic 
guidance, be brought to the point where the knack comes to them, 
and that thenceforward such children are permanently changed in 
capacity. 

34. I should like to be able, in large schools where facilities 
for it are abundant, to put in a program systematically engaging 
the arithmetically efficient children upon some other work part 
of the time while the unsteady ones in large groups could be exer- 
cised with conscious attempt to get pleasure out of computation. 
Precaution would need to be taken to emphasize not mere drill. 

35. Continued unsuccessful drudgery stupefies the mind. The 
consciousness of success and of growth felt and enjoyed by the 

17 



learner himself seems to me a healthy stimulus which can be nursed 
by the right kind of teacher selected because of this power. The 
scheme proposed is a modification of the "opportunity class" idea, 
extended to children who are normal but in specific abilities have 
been hurried along without the happy experience of waking up to 
find themselves possessed of the knack. 

Interest and Drill 

36. I have not seen in the Brooklyn divisions anything in the 
line of interesting drill so good as what I saw seventeen years ago 
in School No. 5, Brooklyn, when Principal William T. Vlymen 
used to have an assembly drill in the fundamental processes of 
arithmetic every day. The interest, which I take it is the most 
important factor in nutritive drill, was pronounced. The impor- 
tance of the occasion — large numbers present, principals and teach- 
ers observing, a sort of figure-fest, short, cheerful and considerate — 
was a harmless but efficient spur to industry, care and success. I 
recommend this feature to the attention of principals in the di- 
vision. 

Exhibitions of Ability 

38. Although it occurred in a division not assigned to me, I 
should like to record for the benefit of the Brooklyn principals, a 
contest managed by Mr. Walter H. Edd} r , of the High School of 
Commerce. The various classes have in their own rooms "try outs" 
in addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, vulgar fractions, 
decimal fractions, and percentage. The best boys of each group 
then contest in the assembly hall. Each has a blackboard. At the 
same moment identical problems on slips of paper are handed to 
the contestants. When a boy has completed and proved his work 
he takes his position at a designated place at the front of the stage ; 
successive contestants fall in as they finish. The exercises are so 
short that they involve no strain. I recommend that this means 
of putting spirit into arithmetic be introduced into the Brooklyn 
schools both for contests between classes and between schools. I 

18 



recognize that arithmetic as it is the most usually tested of sub- 
jects, is also the most dangerous to mental health if overdone. I 
couple with my suggestion a caution which may be necessary only 
to principals not known to me that the preliminaries be conducted 
with moderation. 

39. During the year the Brooklyn Eagle conducted a spelling 
contest in which public interest was keen. The revival of this old- 
fashioned school exercise in the form of friendly contests between 
schools is recommended. 

Use of the Criticisms of the Year 

40. The tests made may be interpreted to show that in some of 
the schools in the division assigned to me, too many of the mem- 
bers of the graduating classes apparently could not "spell, write and 
figure." I know that it is not customary to make such admissions 
in school reports, but recognition of the criticism seems to me to 
lead to some advantage. So long as the schools depend on public 
endorsement for their maintenance, why not court suggestions for 
improvement from the public? When a service establishes itself 
on a solid foundation its managers often inspire the staff with a 
pride of efficiency sufficient to lead to an invitation for suggested 
betterments. I know several schools in Brooklyn that are strong- 
enough to print on their report cards "patrons are requested to sug- 
gest improvements desired in our service." I think both divisions 
would profit by a frank invitation to the public to suggest what 
abilities it expects in a school graduate. The commercial employers 
on whom I called were interested. Later in this report you will 
find their contribution. 

What a Brooklyn - Graduate Should Be 

41. The purpose which led the builders of America to establish 
for the first time in history a plan of free and universal education 
was expressly to rear a race of citizens superior to existing human- 
ity. No expounder of the function of public education in the early 
days of the republic or at the present time has been content with 

19 



spelling, writing and figuring as the result of school training. The 
culture of better men and women has been the theoretical aim of 
American schools from the beginning. 

42. Would it be possible to define profitably for the Brooklyn 
schools the personal product to deliver which they are maintained ? 
Such a formulation has engaged the attention of managers of school 
systems to an increasing degree in the past twenty-five years. 

43. Starting with the specific attainments the lack of which 
have been emphatically asserted this year and extensively adver- 
tised throughout the country, I added to the list other virtues given 
me by employers as needful. I submitted the list to ministers, 
lawyers, various citizens, and to thirty Brooklyn principals asking 
for corrections and additions. Striking out the repetitions and the 
different forms of expressing the same idea, I present herewith 
young Master or Miss Brooklyn as he or she, certificate in hand, 
theoretically walks down the front steps of the perfect school on 
graduation day. 

44. Conceive a boy or girl made up of these characteristics: 
Health, agility, cleanliness, good posture. 

Good personal appearance. Attention to dress, erect figure. 

Audible voice, clear and correct speech. 

Self control, ability to look you in the eye, courage, absence of 
the impediment of shyness. 

Deftness of hand, including legible, shapely penmanship, simple 
graphic representation, ability to use common tools and simple 
machines. 

Punctuality, economy of time and material. 

Ability and tendency to think, to compare ideas and to reach 
consistent conclusions. 

Tendency to reflect before important action. 

Mental economy, ability to study a problem intelligently and to 
summarize essentials in a reasonable time. Intelligent applicaMon. 

Orderliness. Tendency to plan. 

Ability to comprehend and to reproduce in writing or by word of 
mouth printed or oral discourse of reasonable difficulty. 

Accuracy and reasonable speed in such computations as the ordi- 

20 



nary citizen is called npon to make and in such quantitative work 
with tools and material as is pertinent to the tool and machine 
work of the school. 

Appreciation of the value of money, of the advantage of intelli- 
gent spending and of thrift. 

An efficient knowledge of the usual sources of information. Skill 
in using them. 

Conception of the intellectual inheritance of mankind. Posses- 
sion of a reasonable fund of information resulting from the conven- 
tional studies including especially the duties of a citizen. 

Knowledge of the main avenues of self support, the nature of oc- 
cupations, wages and opportunities. 

Taste, refinement, appreciation of beauty in literature, music, 
art and nature. 

Humor, capacity for healthy enjoyment, cheerfulness. 

Desire and ability to cooperate with others. Willingness to act 
under direction, loyalty. 

Intelligent patriotism. 

Industry, perseverance, grip, grit, self reliance. 

Originality, independence, initiative, management, enthusiasm. 

Honesty, decency, clean-mindedness. 

Good manners, courtesy, consideration for others, helpfulness, 
readiness to volunteer, unselfishness. 

Advantageous use of leisure. 

All round capacity, harmonious development. 

Consciousness of a personal ideal. 

Ambition to make the most of opportunities individually and as 
a contributor to the common good. 

What a School and a Principal are For 

45. There is nothing new in the list. All this has been done by 
writers on education before. Clergymen cover, year after year, 
virtues which they hope to propagate. The picture of my ideal 
graduate, however, was made in Brooklyn. My proposition is that 
I use it as more than a fanciful sketch but as an architect's plan or 

21 



a specification for the 175 contractors engaged in supervising 
character-building in the Borough. That is, I should like to see 
practice officially diverted from concentration on a course of study 
to conscious cultivation of human habits, traits and tendencies. 

46. Analysis of human knowledge into literature, science and 
classified subdivisions has long been made for purposes of teaching. 
It has saddled memory methods upon schools so long that a large 
part of preparation, recitation and testing is concerned with infor- 
mation. Though current educational theory repudiates the idea 
that the information of the text-books is an education, Brooklyn 
practice, like American usage at large, does not put growth of 
power, acquisition of habit, in a foremost place, nor exhibit the 
course of study as the means, not the end, of service. Brooklynites 
show that they can conceive the product desired of the schools and 
can analyze it into definite abilities capable of nurture by selected 
persons employing selected means. I would wish, in the division 
assigned to me, to promote a more direct application of practice to 
the generally accepted theory that the schools are maintained to 
provide "education for efficiency" (Maxwell), "A thinking, doing, 
feeling person" (Kirk), "A personal product" (Eliot), "A Citizen, 
not a storehouse" (Jordan), "Folks, not facts" (William Hawley 
Smith). 

46. The working proposition is : A Brooklyn school is main- 
tained to cultivate abilities of all its children as nearly toward per- 
fection as the limitations of school time and children's aptitudes 
permit. A principal is employed to see that this purpose of the 
school is carried out. A compilation of these abilities can be ob- 
tained from intelligent citizens, can be classified for working effi- 
ciency by school managers, and can serve as a prospectus for the 
work of a definite time. 

47. The summary is a local product and has not been tested by 
application to individual schools but it meets all the criticism of 
the }*ear, includes all the virtues the business men have mentioned, 
as essential in graduates. It contains the expectations of citizens 
and schoolmasters and it gives a principal something in the nature 

22 



of a defined ideal for himself and for the person who supervises 
him. 

48. Without a clear plan, a manager is the servant of circum- 
stances as they arise. He reacts npon each adventitious demand as 
it comes up. He looks back upon his day and wonders where it has 
gone. His work masters him. With a plain working model, a man 
may be more the owner of his time and better bend events to his 
will. A person assigned to administer and supervise a division, a 
group of schools, ought to assist the principals of those schools to 
realize the products expected of the schools. To do this haphazard 
is a waste. Superintendency ought by this time to have formulated 
some of the lessons of experience into something approaching a 
science. 

The Science oe Supervision 

49. Ten or more years output of "efficiency" books and articles 
have affected the management of Brooklyn schools. A number of 
the principals and teachers are familiar with the works of H. B. 
Gantt, Herbert Kaufman, Harrington Emerson and others. Emer- 
son's summary of efficient management common to most kinds of 
organization has been quoted to some extent in courses taken by 
Brooklyn teachers. The supervision of a school or of a division 
is benefited by knowledge of the requirements outlined by him. 
They are: 

Ideals. Kept clear and prominent. 

Eevision. Change of ideals to meet changing conditions. 

Efficiency standards. 

Efficiency tests. 

Efficiency records. 

Efficiency rewards. 

Discipline of staff. 

Standard cost. 

Ideals and Eevisions 

50. Even the business organizations now emphasize the neces- 
sity of keeping alive in every member of the staff high ideals of 

23 



efficiency. Provision for this feature in school systems is univer- 
sally demanded. In no service is stagnation and formalism more 
dangerous than in ours. There exists in Brooklyn very efficient 
agencies for promoting high ideals and for keeping them up to 
date. 

I do not know of any community in which teachers and principals 
in such large proportionate numbers make a study of the purposes 
and methods of teaching as is the case in Brooklyn. Adelphi Col- 
lege, St. John's College, Polytechnic Institute and the Brooklyn In- 
stitute of Arts and Sciences have maintained for several years 
schools of education largely attended by teachers in service. I 
learned of many teachers and principals who have attended and will 
attend summer schools of pedagogy. In three schools in which I 
made a canvass I found the following numbers enrolled in profes- 
sional courses since September, 1914: 

Number of Taking 
Teachers Courses Per Cent 

School A 52 31 60 

School B 30 12 40 

School C 30 11 37 

112 54 48 

This does not take into consideration any teachers taking courses 
any other year. 

51. In the same schools the number of teachers subscribing to 
professional magazines is : 



School A 


Number of 
Teachers 
52 


Number 
Subscribing 

25 

8 
9 


Per Cent 
38 


School B 


30 


27 


School C 


30 


30 



112 42 37 

53. In these schools the number of teachers who have read since 
September what you would consider professional books is fifty per 
cent, of the entire number of teachers who were questioned. When 
you recall the applause from a large assemblage of teachers which 

24 



greeted the head of one of Brooklyn's prominent schools when 
he said in 1892, "I never read a book on pedagogy in my life, thank 
God," yon can see some difference in the way some of the Brooklyrj 
school men and women regard the value of aids which freshen and 
revise ideals. I have not heard in Brooklyn for many years the old 
excuse for stagnation : "A teacher is born and not made." 

53. The membership in professional organizations is larger than 
in any community of which I know. The Brooklyn Eagle Almanac 
lists associations as follows : 



Class Teachers' Association 3744 members 

Principals ' Association 80 

Heads of Departments 125 

Women Principals' Association 1901 

It (Men Principals) 40 

Brooklyn Teachers' Association 5891 

Association of Doctors of Pedagogy * 

Association of Men Teachers in Elementary Schools * 

Association of "Women High School Teachers * 

Emile Pedagocial Society * 

High School English Teachers' Association * 

High School Teachers ' Association * 

Interborough Association of Women Teachers * 

Interborough Council * 

Male High School Teachers ' Association * 

Biology Teachers ' Association * 

German Teachers ' Association * 

High School Principals' Association * 

Hoi Scholastikoi * 

Schoolmasters ' Club * 

Principals ' Association * 

Principals ' Club * 

Public Education Association * 

Schoolmasters ' Association * 

Schoolmen 's Club * 

Vacation School Association * 

Vocational Guidance Association * 

Teachers League * 

Teachers ' Professional League * 

Teachers ' Council * 

Association of Evening High School Teachers and Principals * 



25 



Association of Assistants to Principals * 

Association of Model Teachers * 

Association of Teachers of Crippled Children * 

Drawing Teachers ' Association * 

Drawing Supervisors ' Association * 

Music Teachers ' Association * 

Music Supervisors ' Association * 

Domestic Art Teachers' Association * 

First Assistants ' Club * 

Graduating Class Teachers' Association * 

Critic Teachers ' Association * 

New York City Teachers ' Association * 

Kindergarten Association * 

Physical Training Teachers' Association * 

Teachers of Shop Work * 

* Includes members from other Boroughs. 

All of these associations pay some attention to emphasis upon ideals 
of teaching. 

The most remarkable local organization of school workers in 
the world is the Brooklyn Teachers' Association. Beginning its 
career forty-one years ago with a lecture on "The Ideal School- 
mistress/' the society has, for more than thirty years, conducted 
professional classes for teachers until the number of its members 
has grown to 5,985. Of these, 2,794 teachers enrolled themselves 
in the professional classes supported by the association during the 
school year just closing. Last year 3,046 teachers pursued the as- 
sociation's studies. The work includes history of education, phi- 
losophy of education, principles of education, educational psychol- 
ogy, class management, administration, methods, as well as sixty- 
five classes in academic subjects, a total of eighty-six courses 
offered. Seventy-seven of these were chosen by a sufficient num- 
ber of teachers to warrant the employment of instructors. This is 
a professional university, self-sustaining, managed by school men 
and women, the most democratic educational foundation in Amer- 
ica. It is such a guild as in the Eenaissance formed itself to learn 
of the leading scholars of the time and gave its name, universitas 
or corporation, to the highest type of school there is. 

26 



54. But there are more than 6,000 teachers and principals in 
the Brooklyn divisions. Definition and revision of ideals cannot 
be left to even so efficient an agency as a voluntary society which 
instructs fifty per cent, of the teachers of the entire Borough. I 
find other school systems making more use of assemblages of teach- 
ers for elucidation of the large purposes of schools than is employed 
in Brooklyn. In Chicago, in November, I attended such a meeting 
in which the superintendent spoke, outlining large policies of 
school work and presenting to the meeting different teachers who 
described experiments and successes of the schoolroom. It was 
more like an engineers' or physicians' convention than any other 
teachers' meeting I have seen. The superintendent's summary 
contained these words : "The only powers that can change inert- 
ness to progress are responsibility and freedom. Teachers must 
understand that improvement is needed not merely in the ways of 
meeting requirements but in changing old usages to something 
better. Long compliance creates a spirit contented and willing. 
Out of a custom that gave superintendents the duty of setting 
standards has evolved an administrative power which tends to keep 
things as they are. The thumbs up, thumbs down superintendent 
is a menace to progress. Old standards have been sent to the scrap 
heap by industry and commerce, by applied science, by genetic 
history, by social and spiritual growth. Teaching used to be static ; 
the conservation of what had been established by the powers above. 
Eeal education is perpetual adjustment to the changing times. A 
supervisor must inspire his charges to discover things needful and 
to do them." 

55. The Chicago organization for refreshment of ideals requires 
each assistant superintendent to conduct educational meetings. 
Attendance of the principals and teachers is voluntary. All prin- 
cipals can find such meetings in progress on Saturdays from 10.30 
to 12 every month. On other Saturdays there are other teachers' 
conferences to which principals also may go. The result of these 
conferences: 256 pages of recommendations on all the aims, meth- 
ods and successes of all grades of schools; plans of administration, 
of child-study, of social efficiency, of vocational guidance, of lunch- 

27 



eon service, is a contribution of teachers, principals and superin- 
tendents that has no recent parallel in the Brooklyn divisions. 
When I compare Chicago superintendents' use of Saturday morn- 
ings with our New York office hour for listening to personal com- 
munications which, were they written, would be much shorter and 
more definite than now, it seems to me that the Westerners have us 
beaten as conservers of energy. 

56. Another provision for outlining and enlivening • ideals in 
Chicago is an official magazine issued free to every teacher in the 
system. The Board of Education press edits, prints and distributes 
this literature of the profession. Announcements, directions, ex- 
positions of educational doctrine, reports of the Saturday meetings, 
make up the matter. Teachers contribute. They frankly present 
views differing from those proposed by supervisors. 

57. Insurance companies, electric plants, railways, maintain 
regular periodicals for dissemination of ideals among their em- 
ployes. The supervision of 6,000 persons engaged in more impor- 
tant work than lighting, insuring or transporting, requires a peri- 
odic issue of bright, vitalizing print as much as any commercial 
business does. We should attempt through the Brooklyn Teachers' 
Association to circulate an organ devoted to the first principles of 
efficient management ; dissemination and revision of clearly defined 
ideals. We should cooperate with the association in free-for-all 
conferences to take the place of the Saturday office hour and should 
use these conferences for the definition and application of modern 
educational ideals. 

58. During the year, so far as opportunity offered, I have rec- 
ommended to those in the Brooklyn division, study and application 
of suggestions found in the publications of the Board of Educa- 
tion's Division of Reference and Research. I hope you will include 
as an appendix to your annual report a list of the subjects treated 
by this Bureau. The Director's experience as teacher, principal 
and superintendent in our own system gives to these publications a 
pertinence to local needs that ought to be fully recognized by actual 
use. I recommend that the superintendent assigned to the Brook- 
lyn divisions next year hold volunteer conferences upon reports of 

28 



the Division of Kesearch with the intent to realize profit to the 
Brooklyn schools. 

Efficiency Standards 

59. In paragraph 41 of this report rmder the title "What a 
Brooklyn Graduate Should Be/' I presented ideals collated from 
propositions of Brooklyn teachers and other citizens. In paragraph 
18 I gave some efficiency standards submitted by merchants for 
some of the ideal qualities required of the schools. It is not a 
difficult matter to arrive at definite standards of the attainments 
asked for by the employer. The prominence given this year to busi- 
ness men's criticism leads me to propose for any division assigned 
to me to invite a conference of employers and to obtain from them 
an agreement upon explicit performances which a public school 
graduate ought to be certain of accomplishing. These I will submit 
to such principals as will meet me with the intent to accept those 
standards or to indicate to the business men's Committee what 
standards are unacceptable and why not. I would then meet such 
members of local school boards and such principals as would come 
together and would discuss with them the other than business at- 
tainments and virtues which a common school boy or girl should 
be trained in. We should arrange these in groups of "special 
emphasis/' "regular emphasis" and "incidental" from the point of 
view of the schools' duty and opportunity. We should formulate 
such standards of attainment in lines capable of standardization 
as we could, and would give the conclusions of the conference 
official endorsement as a prospectus of ideals expected in the human 
individuals for whose education the schools are maintained. 

60. For example a standard of efficiency for graduating class 
pupils in the general line of "audible voice, clear and correct 
speech" is not hard to make, neither is one in "penmanship, simple 
graphic representation" or in "ability to comprehend and to repro- 
duce in writing or by word of mouth printed or oral discourse of 
reasonable difficulty." Efficiency standards for many of the ideals 
are already well-known to school-masters. 

29 



61. It is no disparagement of this proposition to say "All this 
has been done before/' Managers of school systems are translating 
their courses of study into human results all the time. It needs to 
be done so often in every system that formal getting through the 
course of study will not be accepted as the function of the school 
system. We want to know that the course of study has been so 
used that advantageous human results have ensued. 

62. Efficiency ideals properly include propositions that are new 
and in advance of what many principals and teachers may have 
considered within the sphere of their service. Efficiency standards 
are definite attainments which a supervisor, if he is worth his sal- 
ary, will require every school to reach. They are minima below 
which a principal or teacher must not fall without loss of rewards 
provided for efficiency. There is a strong under-current of belief 
prevalent in Brooklyn that no teacher after three years upon the 
payroll can be relieved of drawing salary no matter how poor his 
service. The men whose main duty it is to keep the tax rate down 
charge that the Department of Education is paying high grade 
wages for low grade work. We lack standards of work that are 
being consistently employed. We need definitely to establish 
whether a designated teacher is below grade or not. 

63. I could not make an acceptable set of standards for the 
eight grades in an elementary school, but I know twenty-two prin- 
cipals and teachers with whom I could make a beginning on which 
I think a scheme of standards could be built that would have a 
tonic effect upon the work of every school whose principal would 
elect to use the measure. I recommend a beginning in Brooklyn 
next year. 

EFFICIENCY RECORDS 

64. In Harrington Emerson's address to teachers, adapting the 
science of management to schools, he emphasized the necessity of 
"reliable, immediate, adequate and permanent records." 

65. When the newspapers which circulate in the divisions as- 
signed to me made prominent in their news and in editorials the 

30 



charges that the elementary school graduates cannot write, spell or 
figure, I should have had at my hand reliable data showing in what 
Brooklyn schools the children were able to a commendable degree 
to write, spell and figure. I asked for the records of certain Brook- 
lyn schools and learned that there were no reports of the efficiency 
of those schools and none had been required for some time. If I 
were superintendent of a steamboat service and the newspapers 
published a statement that my ships could not make connections 
with trains as advertised, had insufficient life preservers and were 
too weak in the timbers for safety, I would be expected to be able 
to produce time records, reports of government hull inspectors and 
certificates of equipment. 

66. The school is the working unit of a system and ought to be 
periodically inspected. A record of its efficiency ought to be made 
in duplicate, one copy for the principal and one readily available to 
the officers administering and supervising the division to which the 
school belongs. Recognition and reward of success of principals 
is haphazard without definite efficiency records of the principal's 
work. An associate superintendent has to vote upon the nomina- 
tion of some principal for a higher position. There are more than 
400 principals to choose from. No reasonable decision can be made 
relying only on memory or on an impression made by the personal 
call of the candidate or on the statement of one who had walked 
through the school letting casual impressions guide his judgment. 
It is too much as if the persons considered had appeared newly on 
the scene from some other system. By the present method of nomi- 
nating principals for higher places and by relying upon the candi- 
date's own announcement of his desire for nomination there is a 
strong possibility that some of the best managerial talent in the 
system is overlooked because its possessor is running a solid efficient 
school without its excellence being able to offset his poor work in 
self-advancement. The number of principals in the Brooklyn di- 
visions who feel there is too little regard for records of achievement 
based upon tests of results, is considerable. It would, in my opin- 
ion, be a great advantage to the Brooklyn Schools if details for 
record were known by the principals and if those records were 

31 



periodically made. An idea of an efficiency record for a principal 
may be obtained from the following compilation furnished by 
Brooklyn school men and women. 

67. Record of John Smith, Principal, P. S. 500, Brooklyn, made 

by 

Dates of .school inspection 

Amount of time each date 



a. Here put results of 
principal's management as 
found by testing the pupils, 
enclose as part of the record 
the actual tests made and 
the results. the basis of 
this record is the cultiva- 
tion of those habits, abili- 
ties and characteristics of 
pupils as shall be decided 
upon as in paragraph 46 of 
this report. details to be 
printed here. 

b. Principal's habit and 
provision for carrying out re- 
quirements of the Board of Ed- 
ucation as expressed in its by- 
laws, regulations and resolutions 
and in instructions issued by the 
superintendents 

c. Principal's method of fil- 
ing these instructions for refer- 
ence 

d. Principal's direction of 
plans of teachers for school work 

e. His record of class inspec- 
tions and examinations 

f . His record of conferences 
with teachers 

g. His provision for instruc- 
tion of newly appointed teach- 
ers, of substitutes and of teach- 
ers whose work is weak. His 
record of assistance to such . . . 



CHECK IN PROPER COLUMN 



Excellent: 

much 

above 

average 



Very good. 

above 

average 



Good: 
average 



Poor: 

below 
average 



32 



h. Promptness and accu- 
racy in reports 

i. Economy and care as to 
books and supplies 

j. Condition of building, 
reports of damage and need of 
repairs, cleanliness, adornment 
of rooms and halls, heat and 
ventilation, supervision of jani- 
tor 

k. Management of fire 
drills 

1. Principal's punctuality 
and attendance 

m. Records of punctuality 
and attendance of teachers .... 

n. Records of punctuality 
and attendance of pupils 

o. Management of grading 
and promotions 

p. Discipline and spirit of 
school (give details) 

q. Recesses, games, athlet- 
ics, etc 

r. Use of libraries 

s. Patriotic exercises 

t. Contribution of sugges- 
tions of benefit to school system 

u. Special excellencies or 
deficiencies. Details not listed 
above, but considered worthy 
of mention . . 



CHECK IN PROPER COLUMN 



Excellent: 

much 

above 

average 



Very good: 

above 

average 



Good: 
average 



Poor: 

below 

average 



68. I would not put into effect a system of efficiency records of 
principals until I had submitted such a tentative draft as this to 
all who were to be affected by it. I would amend it in accordance 
with suggestions received. I would expect to have it revised as 
experience showed the need. 

69. During the present year a number of members of the Board 
of Education have urged the need of "organization for results." 



33 



One asserts that hospitals, libraries, churches and philanthropic 
societies have better efficiency records than we do. In one Brook- 
lyn school a principal expresses the view that a director of a large 
educational plant has as much need of tables of results as a bank 
has of its balance sheet or a store of its sales report. He said "Our 
reports are mostly concerned with attendance of pupils and teach- 
ers. They ought to be an account of educational profit." Another 
principal called my attention to the assertions of a book on Edu- 
cational Administration by Strayer and Thorndike, to the effect 
that, "today the efficiency of school supervision is judged by its 
ability to satisfy any inquiry which may be made concerning the 
work of teachers and the progress of pupils. The demand is made 
that claims be supported by statements of results." * This is the 
trend of requirement of supervision as indicated in current profes- 
sional literature: "The supervisor should furnish the necessary 
stimulus to progress by careful study of the results attained by 
principals. These results compared with results attained by other 
principals should establish standards of method and spirit." f 

70. A notable fact in current educational history is the revival 
of importance placed upon scrutiny of results. Avers says it is ab- 
sorbed from the nation-wide movement for investigation of the 
results of every sort of organization, connnercial, military and 
social. "The people want to know the facts about the schools. 
They cannot be learned in an office." There has not been in the 
Brooklyn divisions this year nearly so much testing of the pupils' 
ability by inspectors as there was fifteen years ago. A superin- 
tendent then would go through a school from the bottom up, sam- 
pling and rating the pupils' specific abilities by exercises based upon 
what the syllabus for the grade provided and upon what the teacher 
said she had trained the children to do. Brooklyn principals who 
have remained in the system since that time tell me that they miss 
these investigations. One says, "A systematic trial of results like 

* Educational Administration, Thorndike and Strager, The Maemillan 
Co., p. 250. 

t The Administration of Education, Hollister, Charles Scribner ' s Sons, 
p. 235. 

34 



that discovers infelicities that the best of us do not see until an 
outsider finds them." Another says, "To sit in the back of a room 
and watch a teacher conduct a lesson is not enough. The test of 
good training is what the trained can do. The best test of a pastry 
cook is, first, the taste of the pie. After that has been evaluated, 
find whether the pie has been made economically, hygienically and 
with reasonable speed." I have not, in the Brooklyn division, ade- 
quate means of testing results. I do not know that the pupils are 
as well equipped in the abilities and characteristics expected of 
school children as they may be made without any longer hours or 
harder work of teachers, principals and superintendents than is 
now expended. If a rearrangement of emphasis and attention by 
school workers is desirable, I cannot base recommendation for such 
on any adequate knowledge of what present emphasis and attention 
is producing. One assigned to "administration and supervision of 
the schools of a division" ought to be so well fortified by actual 
testing of the product as to be able to invite any committee of citi- 
zens to test abilities that are so publicly questioned as was the case 
this year. Thus, as much prominence to the skill of our graduates 
could be given as was afforded the widely heralded charge that they 
cannot spell, write or figure. There is not a sufficient force to do 
this available in Brooklyn at present. In 1899 these divisions had 
118 elementary schools, a teaching and supervising staff of 3,496 
persons, an enrollment of 163,783 pupils. Assigned exclusively to 
Brooklyn were nine superintendents. (First Annual Eeport, City 
Superintendent of Schools, New York, pages 9, 39, 41.) At the be- 
ginning of this school year Brooklyn had 175 elementary schools, 
6,209 teachers, principals and assistants ; 314,781 pupils. There 
are seven superintendents assigned exclusively to Brooklyn. If the 
number had increased in proportion to the number of schools there- 
would be thirteen Brooklyn superintendents. If the number had 
increased in degree with the growth of the teaching staff, there 
would be fifteen superintendents working exclusively in Brooklyn 
at the beginning of the present year. A rough view of the duties 
of district superintendents would seem sufficient to show that they 
cannot do this work. We ought to have it done by someone whose 

35 



chief business it is, who will not be called away until the work in a 
particular school is complete. Such assistance is employed in all 
efficient organizations. It is essential to a school system. Lack of 
it exposes us to charges of specific failure in our product. We want 
skillful samplers who will go quickly through the classes and give 
actual tests, who will not leave statistical tasks for teachers to score 
but who will do the entire work from nine till three o' clock every 
day. I recommend that for Brooklyn there be selected, with ap- 
proval of the principals of the schools affected, two teachers for as- 
signment under the direction of the division superintendent to test- 
ing results of teaching in the elementary schools. This will cost 
at a maximum $1500 per teacher plus a maximum of $20 carfare 
each. 

Instances of Efficient Organization 

71. This is a good place to record some specific instances of good 
management so as to indicate what actual facts should go on the 
efficiency record of a principal. In some schools, you are impressed 
with the neatness and cleanliness of the building. The corners of 
the halls and stairs are well swept ; the windows are clean ; there is 
no litter on the floors of class-rooms or hallways. If you inquire 
you will find that even in so minor a matter as this the main 
features of scientific management are present ; ideals published and 
kept alive, efficiency standards, efficiency inspection, efficiency rec- 
ord, discipline of staff, efficiency rewards. If you find a dirty 
building and remark it, the principal will tell you he has a poor 
janitor. Any manager of any other plant will tell you that sys- 
tematic inspection and definite record is the surest medicine known 
to cure a building of nialjanitoritis. Sections 115-6 of the by-laws 
consist entirely of efficiency standards for janitor service. They 
are the formulation of experts of many years' experience. A good 
or careless janitor needs the tonic of inspection and report as much 
as a teacher or a principal does. Some Brooklyn principals to 
whom various janitors have been assigned never had a poor janitor. 
Why is that ? My observation is that the condition of the building 

36 



is chiefly dependent on the administration of it planned and fol- 
lowed up by the principal. In buildings remarkably clean, at- 
tractive resorts for teachers and children, examples in good house- 
keeping for people living in all sorts of homes, I find systematic 
inspection and record. 

72. The cooperation of teachers and children in the care of 
public property as worked out in School No. 43, Mr. J. A. O'Don- 
nell, principal, is recommended as worth adoption. A teacher is 
appointed adviser of the sanitary squad of pupils. The squad is 
made up from such higher classes as have study periods distributed 
one after another throughout the day. At the opening of these 
study periods the designated patrols inspect the entire building as 
to stairs, hallways, toilets, and yards. They pick up, clean up and 
make a record. Each teacher is responsible for maintaining an 
efficient policing system in his own room. Mr. O'Donnell extends 
this kind of service to the streets contiguous to the school. Pupil 
offenders against the regulations are turned over to the court of the 
school city. 

73. A large number of tests of Brooklyn principals' managerial 
ability were made this year following the request of the Fire Com- 
missioner for revision of regulations governing rapid dismissals. 
In order that all conditions existent in different schools might be 
met, you desired the collection of views of principals and teachers. 
Over two hundred persons contributed details of your circular 
issued in January. The propositions were submitted to the Fire 
Department and to the Committee on Buildings and modified by 
each. When finally approved by the parties who had proposed the 
changes, a circular was printed in the City newspapers and issued 
to the principals. Two editors made it the subject of extended com- 
ment. A hundred and three requests for copies were received from 
outside of the city. The principals in the two divisions took up 
the new requirements at once. The Brooklyn Eagle later selected 
Public School 19, Brooklyn, as one in which the new fire-drill was 
conducted with efficiency such as to make it suitable for a model 
demonstration. Principal John W. Eafferty's conduct of the drill 
in the presence of Hon. Eobert Adamson, the Fire Commissioner, 

37 



was described in a full page article and illustrated with photographs 
of different features of the drill. A complimentary copy was 
mailed to every Brooklyn principal. Subsequent inspection of fire- 
drills in Brooklyn schools discovered generally a commendable de- 
gree of efficiency in this test of good organization and management. 
Fire drills in Public School 78, Mr. Wallace Newton, principal, 
and in Number 139, Mr. Oliver C. Mordorf, principal, illustrate to 
an excellent degree the proper management of large numbers of 
children massed together. The specific details of excellence in those 
schools in a rapid dismissal are these : 

There are no complex signals nor directions. On receiving the 
signal the children form by twos in the classroom and march 
whithersoever the teacher directs. She uses her judgment in select- 
ing the exit out of which, at the moment, egress is least impeded. 
She does not think she must lead her class or follow it. She goes 
with it in whatever position gives her opportunity best to control it, 
to halt it, to turn it or otherwise to direct it by spoken command. 
There is no running on stairs, in halls or on the street. The usual 
style of marching to assemblies, workshops or kitchens is observed 
in fire-drills. The control of classes out of the classroom and out- 
side of the building is similar to that observed in the recitation 



rooms. 



74. A remarkable exhibition of planning, organization and man- 
agement by Brooklyn principals and teachers was observed on Sat- 
urday and Monday the 29th and 31st of May when 4,500 school 
children sang at the Thirteenth Regiment Armory as part of the 
National Saengerfest given by the United Singers of Brooklyn. 
You will recall that on an occasion like this in Manhattan, three 
years ago, you had to send as an emergency measure a committee of 
selected men to the Madison Square Garden to bring order out of 
chaos. Principal Floyd R. Smith, of School Number 167, Brooklyn, 
was selected by District Superintendent Benjamin Yeit to deliver, 
police and dismiss the 4,500 young Brooklynites at this May festi- 
val. Mr. Smith was assisted by principals selected by him : Messrs. 
Eufus Vance, Irving Hazen, Isadore Springer and James T. Dil- 
lingham, also by Miss Ellen M. Barker and Messrs. Robert Fausel, 

38 



I. 0. Hornstem, C. W. Lafnn, J. I. Milsner, John M. Battell, James 
G-olding, and by forty-five teachers selected by them. The assem- 
bling, seating and dismissal were done with such precision and 
despatch that Mr. David Koos, the Fest President, declares it was 
far and away the best management he ever saw at any saengerf est. 

75. It is not impossible that yon may be called npon at some 
fntnre time to furnish a large chorus of school children. Thinking 
that it would be a convenience for yon to be able to refer yonr 
delegate to memoranda of all the details considered necessary to 
carry off the affair with eclat, I asked Mr. Smith to let me have 
for this report a working plan. Here is his : 

PLAN FOR MANAGEMENT OF CHILDREN AT A MASS CONCERT 

a. Appoint one chairman to take charge. 

b. He selects assistants for special stations. 

c. These hold a meeting and go over plans and select teachers at 

rate of one for each hundred children. Ten per cent, addi- 
tional to cover absences of teachers. 

d. Superintendent writes these asking them to serve, outlines their 

duties and asks them to communicate with chairman. 

e. Chairman gets fifteen blue prints of the platform and seats. 

f. Chairman gets from music director summary of participants 

showing number of each kind of voice from each school. 

g. Chairman and music director mark on a blue print the seats 

to be occupied by sopranos, boys, girls, etc. Chairman gets 
director's signature on the plan and his guarantee not to ask 
for changes in position. 

h. In the last two saengerfests the architect or builder has at first 
supplied seats amounting to 500 to 1000 less than the num- 
ber required to seat the number of children asked for. The 
minimum sitting space for a young Brooklyn singer averag- 
ing stout and thin, high school and elementary school vocal- 
ists, is 1 2/10 feet wide. 

i. Have City Superintendent write the manager of the saengerfest 
that so many more seats must be provided or it will be neces- 
sary to abandon the Concert. The number of children asked 
for have been drilled and expect to participate. There is no 
basis for dismissing some. The saengerfesters will have to 
take the odium, not the school people. 

39 



j. Architect finds how he can supply more seats. Learns that 
schools mean business and keeping of promises (moral 
lesson). 

k. Get authoritative statement as to who is responsible for neces- 
sary labor in the armory, opening certain doors, moving 
chairs, etc. 

1. Select avenues of access to different seats in the armory. Plan 
dismissals for close of rehearsal same as for close of concert, 
same in case of fire or panic. 

m. Assign school men at all platform stairs as accelerators when 
proceeding to seats, rehearsal and concert. 

n. Assign men at top of platform stairs to guide lines to desig- 
nated seats quickly. 

o. Select schools nearest the armory as mustering centres each for 
different kind of singers thus : 
1 centre : first soprano, boys, elementary 
1 centre : second soprano, boys, " 
1 centre : first soprano, girls, " 

1 centre: second soprano, girls, " 
1 centre : contralto boys, " 

1 centre : contralto, girls, " 

1 centre : all high school boys 
1 centre : all high school girls 

p. Designate a manager for each centre and one teacher for every 
100 children. 

q. Instruct managers as to reception of children in centres, group- 
ing them into sections according to the blue print of the 
platform, emphasizing the section numbers for the members 
of each section, forming columns two by two. Eoute of 
march from each centre to the armory. Which entrance at 
armory to use. Necessity of a space in inarching between 
one section and any section marching behind it. 

r. Obtain from Committee on Care of Buildings directions to the 
janitors of the buildings selected to open rooms at times 
designated. 

s. Notify as to centres and time of muster, principals of all 
schools contributing singers. Tell them the superintendent 
desires the principals to have participants assembled in their 
schools and impressed with necessity for attention to direc- 
tions, keeping in place, and exhibiting behavior worthy of 
their schools. Ask girls to wear white, boys to wear white 
waists if possible. TJmbrellas if it looks like rain. Ask for 
reply from principals. Check up. Send second notice. 

40 



t. Chairman have at armory a stentor with a carrying voice and 
largest size megaphone. He is to remain near conductor's 
platform, rehearsals and concerts, from start to finish. 
(James Golding holds the record for clearness, timbre and 
effectiveness. His voice would lure sinners to repentance.) 

u. At first rehearsal instruct children through stentor that a bugle 
call means "Silence, listen to announcement." Arrange with 
cornetist for this service. 

v. Instruct the men mentioned in n and o where the emergency 
headquarters are so that anyone fainting or needing as- 
sistance may be taken quickly to the temporary hospital. 

w. Arrange with saengerfest authorities for distribution of flags 
as lines enter armory, for distribution of dimes (carfare to 
and from each rehearsal) at head of platform stairs. No 
payment to be made until just before the concert. 

x. Dismissal, line by line, under conduct of teachers as designated 
by stentor. Break ranks on reaching street. 

y. Notify superintendent of especially excellent service. Ask him 
to thank all teacher and pupil participants, also letters to 
the persons who helped the most. 

76. The most essential feature of the teachers' and principals' 
management at the Brooklyn Saengerfest was preservation of the 
two-by-two formation. No one was allowed to get out of line. 

77. On June 14th, Mr. William A. Campbell, of Brooklyn, as- 
sembled and Mr. George Gartlan, of Brooklyn, directed 11,360 
school children in the Music Grove in Prospect Park, where they 
celebrated the adoption of the National flag. They saluted it, sang 
patriotic songs and marched away, as they had come, cheerfully, 
steadily and prettily, a walking example of good management by 
their principals and teachers. Throughout both divisions, schools 
left their buildings for a few moments and marched with waving 
flags to some nearby open space where they saluted and sang. This 
is an exercise in management which should be simply and briefly 
done each annual flag day. Let the people see that the symbol of 
patriotism means something to the schools. 

Principals' Increased Eesponsibility 

78. To take general rules for efficiency supervision as developed 

41 



in modern management and to apply them to the Brooklyn di- 
visions will require, it seems to me, wide recognition that the sepa- 
rate working units, schools, be given more importance, and that 
their managers, principals, be given more positive encouragement 
to work out improvements in their own way. Decentralization, 
more voluntary suggestion, more open conferences, is the rule in all 
sorts of organization as compared with the custom of ten years ago. 
For this reason I have emphasized the preliminary participation 
of principals in the establishment of efficiency standards and in the 
formulation of efficiency records. I regard, as of great importance, 
that part of the principal's record which provides for "general 
remarks, facts showing principal's own introduction of special 
features." 

79. I get a belief from their expressions that the Brooklyn 
principals, as a rule, feel less freedom than they did fifteen years 
ago. This may be due to the power of suggestion arising from some 
widely published statements of the investigating commission who 
worked under direction of Dr. Paul Hanus in 1911-13. It may be a 
consequence of the greater size of the City's organization. "In a 
system of this size," is a phrase that has been worked too much 
with the purpose to secure uniformity. A larger system, because it 
has more principals, ought to have a greater number distinguished 
by original ideas. There is too much cynical doubt in Brooklyn 
about encouragement given to individual divergence. 

Principals: Obedience and Originality 

80. I notice among some of the later appointees a debilitative 
tendency to extreme subordination different from the old Brooklyn 
style. These men need the encouragement of a supervisor to lean 
less and to stand on their own feet more. They listen respectfully, 
venture no objections and utter no heresies. This, if extended, 
would produce a military type for schools as if on Alexander Ham- 
ilton's model of an army where all the thinking is done in head- 
quarters. In a school system, a supervisor ought to learn more 
from the sum of all the men on the job than they from him. Sug- 

42 



gestions like most live things, ought to move chiefly upwards. 

81. To a supervisor, originality, which is another word for 
divergence, when evident in the supervised, seems like disobedi- 
ence. It is less easy to control. It is an enemy of discipline. But 
the worst fault I have observed in any Brooklyn school is the 
sterilizing dominion of precedent and tradition, a static tendency 
seeming to be founded on fear of disobeying some authority. The 
life of a school under such a man is merely galvanic, awaiting an 
outside stimulus and relapsing into formalism when that is re- 
moved. In such a school, comment on poor results brings one of 
two answers. "I did exactly as ordered" or "I was never told to do 
any differently." In contrast to this are those schools in which 
the principal keeps ideals prominent rather than form, and wins 
attention to best methods by testing and comparing results. I saw 
in one school a set of pocket cards on which the principal records 
his observations in the classroom. These two prominent headings 
printed upon the record seemed to me real business : "Teachers 
aim, expressed or evident ." "Eesults, " 

Where a Principal Ought to Be 

82. It is my observation that many principals have a singu- 
larly sane and high conception of their duties and make a strong 
effort to plan their days in accordance with a true perspective of the 
relative importance of highly effective and of supplementary acts. 
For instance, out of 63 visits to schools, after I began recording this 
detail, I found 48 principals or 76% in classrooms observing and 
not sitting in offices. Their conception of their duties seems to be 
that of a foreman in the works. The old tradition which sent a 
man walking through the rooms once a day is not evident. One 
principal tells his assistants that less than fifteen minutes observa- 
tion is not worth counting. One tells me that the habit of much 
teaching by the principal was a mistake and is a waste in a large 
school. Unless a principal specifically directs a teacher to observe 
a principal's lesson as a model and quizzes her upon its essential 
points, it is much better to keep quiet. But better than all, he 

43 



says, is the oral or written testing of what the teacher says she has 
trained the class to do. 

83. It seems to me that what official pressure is brought to bear 
upon a principal ought to push him into the classrooms, but the 
principals tell me that they feel the strongest official pull toward 
the office. Neglect of examination and inspection is not immedi- 
ately apparent and is rarely reprimanded ; but -lack of promptness 
in office work cannot be concealed. The dislike of reprimand has 
produced more attention to the supplementary services of a princi- 
pal than is consistent with the adequate performance of his more 
valuable duties. I have not found any principal who believes the 
clerical requirements upon the schools moderate or satisfactory or 
necessary. 

Eeduction of Clerical Work 

84. I recently read notes of an address of Mr. J. Edward Swan- 
strom to Brooklyn principals seventeen years ago in which he said 
that the clerical work of the schools was stifling instruction and 
should be attacked with intelligent determination and reduced. Iu 
1914 I heard Mr. Arthur Somers, addressing elementary principals, 
say that the schools are struggling against a constant increase of 
papers to fill out. In 1901 the amount of recording and reporting 
required of principals was so great as to lead to an investigation by 
the Board.* In 1914 the report of the president of the Board of 
Education contains opinions of ninety-eight per cent, of the princi- 
pals that excessive statistics, reports, computation and writing pre- 
vent the principals from apportioning their time in fair propor- 
tion for essentials. 

85. A Brooklyn woman principal puts the situation thus: 
"Oftentimes I go to my school enthusiastic for service with teachers 
for the children. A traditional sense of propriety leads me to open 
my mail first. On reading it I know that I am worth more to the 

* ' ' By Mr. Metz : Resolved, That the Superintendent be. and hereby is, 
requested to present a statement showing the number and character of 
reports required from principals of schools." Journal, September 3, 1901, 
p. 687. 

44 



City in the classroom than in answering this. But the authorities 
invest the demand for an answer with the urgency of a crisis. By 
the time I have attended to this requirement what freshness I had 
is gone. I give my children second-rate devotion ; my best has gone 
to system." It is an almost universal custom of business men to 
attend to the morning mail the first thing. The Brooklyn princi- 
pals have absorbed this business habit. The supervision over them 
encourages it. A minister preceding his appearance before a con- 
gregation which he hopes to move to higher things would not dull 
the edge of his enthusiasm upon commercial matters. A principal's 
morning freshness ought to go into the inspiration of his staff to 
high grade work, into observation and supervision, not into office 
detail. The abuse that has come about by the tyranny of business 
custom could be mitigated by a counter despotism in the form of a 
prohibition of office work by principals before noon, an order that 
principals are not to be called to telephones in the morning, a 
proclamation that the schoolmaster's ante meridiem assignment is 
where the educative processes are at work. 

86. Following such advice should come a thorough examination 
of the complaints of too much clerical work and a resultant report 
of definite plans for reform. Either the amount of the require- 
ments or their administration is a very wasteful hindrance to the 
main purpose of the schools in the Brooklyn divisions. 

87. Too many reports compiled from data furnished by prin- 
cipals reach them too long after the opening of the term to be of 
maximum value. Too many reports made by principals are never 
known by the makers to have been made use of. It would reduce 
the drudgery of reporting if every request for data were accom- 
panied by a promise to furnish the giver with summary and con- 
clusions made from such data. This report is so largely a compila- 
tion of material received from Brooklyn teachers and principals 
that I respectfully request a copy of it sent to each Brooklyn school 
before the opening day in September. 

88. Some Brooklyn principals whose schools have grown to 
proportions undreamed of when the duties of a schoolmaster began 
to be formulated in by-laws and in books upon school management 

45 



have changed their habits as circumstances altered. They do not 
personally perform the functions listed in the department manual. 
They are occasionally recipients of some official message spoken, 
telephoned or written, expecting them to have immediate personal 
knowledge of one or some supplementary facts. Such knowledge 
would be unexpected in the case of a manager of a business con- 
cern of a quarter of the size of the school. His assistants would 
have it ; records of it would be accessible. Brooklyn principals who 
have delegated such things and who devote themselves to the direct 
management and inspiration of effective work by teachers are the 
ones whose schools give the largest return for the cost. 

89. I recommend that you request the Division of Reference 
and Research to obtain from the principals of the best managed 
schools, outlines for the provision of classified duties and to pub- 
lish a monograph on "The Management of a large Xew York 
School" for the increase of the efficiency of all principals of the 
large organizations. 

Cheebixg the Peixcipal 

90. The principalis position here is not as attractive as it was 
in 1898. The $3,500 salary now is worth only about $2,000 in 
purchasing power as compared with its value seventeen years ago. 
To keep him in prime working condition until a distraught fiscal 
situation is able to repair his money loss, his official counselors 
need to give him more than the ordinary confidence, respect and 
appreciation. The late Commissioner Draper in an address to prin- 
cipals insisted that progressive educational administration meant 
greater relaxing of rules. The present State Commissioner Finley, 
speaking on school administration, called for less of the attitude of 
the hired man, more of the spirit of the volunteer. In a large 
system it is easy to bind all to prevent repetition of a foolish act by 
one. But the larger the system the greater the number of men are 
irritated and belittled by such ill-considered restriction. For the 
Brooklyn divisions, so long as their administration and supervision 
is assigned to me I would advocate the widest possible use of prin- 

46 



cipals' councils for general good of the division and, by principals, 
the widest nse of free and voluntary teachers^ councils for benefit 
of the children. 

Efficiency Eecoeds of Geaduates 

91. Eecords of efficiency of other than principals need attention 
in the Brooklyn divisions. 

92. The "Estimate of pupils' attainments" now made for grad- 
uates is not, so far as I can observe in Brooklyn, worth the labor 
required. These cards are taken by graduates to high schools, but 
there such paltry use is made of them that the work of filling them 
out might well be spared the elementary schools. This is the esti- 
mate put upon them in the high schools : "More trouble than they 
are worth," "Of no use to us," "Not looked at," "Could get along 
very well without them." "Only use we make is, when a parent 
claims that failure here is our fault, to look up grammar school 
record and show that boy was weak before he came," "We never see 
them," "Have heard of a Manhattan principal using them but we 
could never find time." 

93. As they are not used by the schools in which the graduates 
deposit these records the value of an efficiency report for children 
not going to higher schools should be considered. I obtained from 
several employers their lists of abilities they want to know about 
in the case of young applicants. It differs materially from the 
attainment record now furnished to graduates. 

94. The following record to be printed on a convenient sized 
card contains all of the facts on the present graduation certificate 
which the high school principals say are used, but it contains also a 
summary of what employers say they would like to know: 



CERTIFICATE 
FOR EMPLOYERS OR SCHOOLMASTERS 

Henry Smith, residing at 165 Decatur Street, Borough of Brooklyn, 
born June 5, 1902, parent, John Smith, satisfactorily completes an eight-year 
course in public school Number 500, Brooklyn, on June 30, 1915. 

He attended school 15 days since 13th birthday. (For pupil under 14 
years.) 

47 



He attended school . 
pupils over 14 years of age.) 



days during the past 12 months. (For 





CHECK IN PROPER COLUMN 


HIS HABIT RECORD IS: 


Excellent: 

much 

above 

average 


Very good: 

above 

average 


Good: 
average 


Poor: 

below 

average 


Legible handwriting 

Neat work 










Arithmetic, accuracy and rea- 
sonable speed 




Business forms 




Ability to compose a grammat- 
ical letter 




Spelling 

Industry 

Manners 

Hand work with tools, use of 





Employers are earnestly requested to keep this record on file and to 
advise the principal of any pronounced divergence from it observed durmg 
employment. 

Henry Thompson, Principal, 
P.S. 500, 6th Street and 15th Avenue, 

Brooklyn, N. Y. 



96. It would be worth while advertising to employers that we 
are cooperating with them in getting abilities that can be depended 
on. It would advantage the graduates to have a definite recom- 
mendation. It would be of value to the children still in school to 
know that employment depends upon record. I believe the majority 
of employers are so desirous of getting efficient boys and girls that 
they would respond to an invitation to favor applicants bringing 
efficiency records. It would assist to put an end to charges of in- 
efficiency against schools by employers who judge training by im- 
mature workers who have failed in school and left it. 



48 



97. I would recommend that these items, after amendment by 
a principals' conference be incorporated in all new record cards 
which pass from teacher to teacher as a child is promoted and that 
they be so printed that valuation marks of these habits may be 
checked in rating columns for the sixth, seventh and eighth years. 

Efficiency Eecokds of Teachers 

98. The attention given in all kinds of management to "reliable, 
immediate, adequate and permanent records of personal efficiency," 
has come into consideration of educational supervisors to an in- 
creasing extent in the last few years. A society for the promotion 
of school measurements is growing in numbers. The professional 
press gives extended space to articles upon the new demand. There 
has been more attention to teachers' ratings in the proceedings of 
local associations this year than during any equal period. A Brook- 
lyn principal, Dr. Isadore Springer, compiled, this year, and the 
Education Department's Division of Eeference and Eesearch 
printed a seventy-five-page manual of tests and standards for meas- 
uring the efficiency of instruction and management.* It shows 
that "the year 1914 has seen a remarkable growth in the promulga- 
tion of standards by which a school may be judged and in a wide- 
spread tendency to test schools by standards." 

99. I recommend that the Division Superintendent assigned to 
Brooklyn next year take up in voluntary conferences with prin- 
cipals and teachers the "provisional plans for the measure of merit 
of teachers" given in this hand-book and decide upon a trial of a 
revised scheme of appraising the work of teachers. 

100. The main trouble with rating teachers in Brooklyn is the 
lack of efficiency standards. A teacher's record in successive schools 
to which she is transferred, rises and falls like the waves of the sea. 
Two persons rating the same teacher at the same time vary from 
"A" to "C" in their records. The lack of standards in terms of 
success leaves the rating surcharged with subjective influences. 

* Teachers' year book of educational investigation, Publication No. 6. 
Division of Eeference and Eesearch, 1915. 

49 



The appraisal is temperamental on the judge's part and not sup- 
ported by evidence. The defense of a rating in specific cases fails 
to convince any one because the recorder has no supporting data. 
A principal who has rated a teacher nonmeritorious feels, in case 
of an appeal, that he is to be put on trial as if for misdemeanor. 
It is so much easier to rate a teacher "A" (superior) than to give 
any other record that our rating system from lack of enforcement 
becomes an approval of the commonplace. If a principal correctly 
rates a teacher "inferior" and thereby saves the City $80, the 
chances are that he will be put to sufficient trouble and annoyance 
to drive him into the ranks of those who "never mark a teacher 
down." There is no specific protester against over-rating a teacher, 
no watch dog of the treasury to prevent payment as if for meritori- 
ous service to an inefficient beneficiary. The Brooklyn principals 
need strong backing to encourage them to use the rating system for 
the purpose which led to its introduction. It ranks as a promise 
unfulfilled. The reforms proposed by teachers, principals and 
superintendents this year emphasize, "frequent and thorough in- 
spection by some one acquainted with the problems of the school 
and class; first-hand knowledge of the work; material reasons ac- 
companied by evidence." * These essentials are procurable to a large 
degree by issue of directions to principals and by help in the way 
of suggestions as to how to get data for ratings. The official pro- 
visions for these ratings emphasize that the record is of the service. 
A principal does not properly mark a teacher but should rate a 
teacher's work. 

101. The whole body of recent literature upon this subject 
recognizes the need of getting away from the super-subjective ele- 
ment, from the personal flavor, to a business-like recognition that 
a fine disposition may be accompanied by inefficient service. The 
sentimental and strained attitude of a young writer toward a manu- 
script submitted to an editor is similar to the feeling that has been 
fostered in teachers toward their record. An author may be de- 
serving, he may be in need of money, he may have worn himself 
to sinew writing his story, but the editor accepts it upon no other 

* Beport of New York Teachers' Council, Brooklyn Eagle, April 6, 1914. 

50 



ground than its merit. No successful painting master, spares the 
truth in criticising pictures submitted to him. The amateurish 
sentimentality leading principals to find excuse for wasting public 
money by marking up deficient service does the best and poorest 
teachers inestimable harm and is a species of graft. 

102. I recommend a redefinition of meritorious service, and a 
new analysis of details on which an appraisal of teachers' work is to 
be based. There is, I think, too much dwelling upon manner of 
work, preparation for work, too much upon the teacher as a person 
and not enough upon what the children she trains can do. I pro- 
pose, if assigned to any division next year, to secure by voluntary 
conferences an outline for rating teachers which shall involve 
greater consideration of the advancement of a teacher's class in 
acquisition of habits and abilities appraised by actual tests. 

Efficiency Rewards 

103. The question of school wages has been acute this year. 
The Mayor and Comptroller have deemed compensation too high 
and have reprehended the lack of relation between increase of salary 
and any demonstrated increase of value returned. On the other 
hand, an organization of teachers has published in the Brooklyn 
newspapers a scheme for abolishing all systems established for the 
purpose of recognizing a relation between higher pay and better 
service. The association promulgates the dictum: "Salaries for 
teachers must and can be only automatically increased." * This 
proposition has been made so often that I deem it worthy of a 
reference here. 

104. It was in Brooklyn, through the labors of Mrs. E. F. 
Pettingill and other members of the Board of Education, including 
yourself, that the fundamentals of the present New York salary 
law were established, to wit, a living wage as the basis of all sal- 
aries to which increments were to be added for the more important 
and more meritorious services. This fact has been so distinctly 

*" Brief on the subject of abolishing teacher's ratings." The N. Y. 
Professional Teachers' Association. March 29, 1915. 

51 



accepted by every party to the various adjustments leading to the 
present salary law that the Department of Education and its sal- 
aried supervising and teaching staff are severally and individually 
bound as if by a promise to the people, through its legislature, 
against automatic increase of salaries. The idea is abhorrent to 
accepted principles of organization and of payment. A wage is a 
gage. From the time Adam Smith defined wages as the encourage- 
ment of industry, political economists as well as unlettered employ- 
ers have understood that more pay means better service. In a 
little town where every teacher's service can be known personally by 
those who determine the rates of pay each salary is fixed by dis- 
cussion and debate. Efficiency records, written appraisals, ratings, 
are the result of increased numbers of paid workers. '"Where there 
are many hands," saith the ancient Preacher, "put all in writing, in 
number and in weight." There has been presented to the Board of 
Superintendents the argument that "ratings of teachers is unpro- 
fessional. ISTo members of other professions are rated by symbols 
of any kind given by a higher officer, placed on paper or kept on 
record." But whenever professional men work in considerable 
numbers as in an organized hospital, in a large sanitary service, in 
an extended engineering contract, ratings are made with a minute- 
ness and exactness that make ours by comparison look like child's 
play. 

105. No essential of productive management is emphasized 
more strongly than connection between efficiency records and mone- 
tary rewards. Prior to 1897 the schools of these Brooklyn divisions 
were covered by efficiency records as to their principals and teach- 
ers but there were no salary rewards for increased efficiency except 
as a person secured promotion to another grade. Salary rewards 
for greater service were therefore possible only when a vacancy in 
a higher grade occurred. There was no customary reliance upon a 
teacher's efficiency record in determining her promotion to the 
higher salary. "The more meritorious teachers were often dis- 
tanced by the self seeking and the powerful." (City Superinten- 
dent's Annual Eeport, July 31, 1900.) These Brooklyn divisions, 
in common with the rest of the schools, came under the present 

52 



plan of making increase of salaries possible to teachers of all grades. 
The Governor whose signature to this enactment was necessary to 
give it force declared he would sign no bill increasing the pay of 
service for mere length of experience. He asserted that the meas- 
ure was intended to enable the managers of the school system to 
encourage increase of efficiency by increase of pay. I do not find, 
in Brooklyn, that this usual adjustment of wages as a means of 
promoting service is used enough for producing better results in 
the schools. A teacher who reaches merely a satisfactory standard 
of service gets, under the rules of administration, an increased 
stipend each year up to the maximum allowed by law. That is not 
encouragement for increase in skill. The number who are rated 
unsatisfactory by Brooklyn principals is 15 out of 6,209 teachers, 
a quarter of one per cent. The ordinary business man comparing 
these infinitesimal failures with the failures in other pursuits calls 
the school system's record of the efficiency of its teachers a "fake." 
It is absurd that a superintendent assigned to a division is supplied 
with no data competent to show whether the usage of rating teach- 
ers is a fake or not. This lack of connection between increased pay 
and increased value of results is so vulnerable a defect that the 
claim of unwise expenditure of money is easy to make against the 
department. It has been made this year by persons of high posi- 
tion in the municipality. It will be a point of attack so vulnerable 
that when a very severe financial crisis comes, the weakness of de- 
fense of our salary usage will result in drastic reductions and con- 
sequent damage to teaching. 

106. The organization of the divisions does not place in the 
hands of a division superintendent nor of anyone in the system ade- 
quate proof that the children are being well taught or that in- 
creased wages are being paid to those whose pupils are being taught 
with increased success. A teacher whose work is barely satisfac- 
tory year after year is rated under our system as "B." If a teacher 
works 87% of the expected 193 days each year with a service rated 
at "B," she is increased in salary under our rules. This is not in 
accord with any wage or salary principle with which I am familiar. 
Brooklyn newspapers have this year given much publicity to criti- 

53 



cisms upon the administration of this salary plan and of the rating 
system which is an adjunct to it. In these publications the claim 
has been made that it is a system for the promotion of mediocrity. 

107. There have been prominent claims made this year that the 
ratings of teachers are not based upon success achieved in training 
the children. The Association of Women Principals contends that 
the present rating of teachers "is too apt to be influenced by senti- 
ment, impression and personal feeling." They claim that the 
present ratings are based upon too limited a line of the teacher's 
work and are not sufficiently considered in determining promotion 
to higher salary or in the granting of higher licenses. This associa- 
tion suggests explicit statement of defects in the case of service 
below satisfactory and details of excellencies warranting a rating 
above satisfactory. It advocates for the effect upon service "specific 
terms rather than indefinite ill-defined marks." "Kequirement of 
explicit grounds for an unsatisfactory mark will make it possible 
for the teacher, the principal and the superintendent to have on 
record the definite deficiencies so as more intelligently to remove 
them." The absence of explicit statements of points of distinction 
in service above mere "satisfactory" "prevents recognizing and 
crediting individual excellence and is a source of grief and annoy- 
ance to every principal." "Such definiteness would provide the 
Board of Education with accurate knowledge of the quality and 
quantity of the work done in the schools, would provide the Board 
of Examiners with a sure gauge of the value to be given to teach- 
ers' experience and should be the basis of advancement in salary." 

108. It will be observed that these suggestions of the Women 
Principals' Association are in accord with the rules laid down by 
the authors on management to whom I have referred. The need of 
these reforms is not felt alone by the Women Principals' Associa- 
tion. There is not a Brooklyn principal with whom I have con- 
ferred who does not desire the efficient use of the rating system as 
set forth in the resolutions just quoted. 

109. I am ashamed to be considered as "administering and 
supervising" a division expending over fifteen million dollars a year 
for teaching the children under a system of paying teachers that 

54 



is deemed of little use by its own chief agents, the principals. It 
provides no adequate answer to the charge that the department is 
wasting money, and that its children cannot write nor spell nor 
figure. Those of us who visit the schools believe them first-rate. 
That is no answer to the criticisms that have been widely published 
this year. The superintendent of any body of paid workers or- 
ganized to do any specific thing is universally expected to produce 
evidence that all the persons employed are delivering the product 
paid for. 

110. The Brooklyn division would be improved by official re- 
view of the rating system and by executive directions for very 
much stricter marking. 

111. Urgency for better administration of a rating system in 
Brooklyn schools is very great. The city agencies concerned with 
keeping down expenditures charge that "Teachers are shirks," that 
"the children are not taught," and that "good, bad and indifferent 
teaching is all rewarded" by increased pay. In January the news- 
papers declared that the record which had been issued showing that 
99%% of the 6,000 Brooklyn teachers were rated meritorious,* 
needed only to be shown to any manager of organized workers to 
bring the comment "fake!" I have worked in systems which 
underwent the slashing cuts in wages advocated, now, by men high 
in municipal affairs. I know what a chilling and sullen atmos- 
phere accompanies such a reduction. No eulogy upon the noble 
service of the teacher is answer to the specific charges of inefficient 
administration of the payrolls. This is a foolish time to advocate 
remission of a rating system. The call is rather for a stiff en- 
forcement in order that the principle of increased rewards for in- 
creased value may be used effectively. Otherwise, if increases are 
not refused mediocre service, all service including the best will 
suffer from withdrawal of efficiency rewards. 

Discipline of Staff 

112. Many times this year there have occurred things which 
indicate the weakness of educational administration as compared 

* Publication No. 7, Division of Kesearch, p. 35. 

55 



with organizations which are conducted on efficient principles. 
The office hours of superintendents are to a considerable degree 
consumed by listening to oral complaints of individual teachers. 
Communications would be simpler, more distinct and fairer if 
put in writing. A teacher given respectful and sympathetic at- 
tention makes charges of injustice and unfairness against a prin- 
cipal which are certain to create a prejudice against him which 
subsequent investigation, though disclosing that there was no un- 
fairness in his action, will fail to remove. The feeling among the 
Brooklyn principals that "Fifty Ninth Street" is not scrupulous 
in supplying persons complained of with a statement of the com- 
plaints is too general. There is a cynical idea in Brooklyn that 
the discipline common to other organizations is lacking in ours. 
Where so many workers are women and thus entitled by tradition 
to more deferential attention, it is not hard for a system to de- 
velop a good deal of personal criticism of principals by teachers. 
When women's wages were low and teaching was a half charity the 
hardship of the position led to more sympathy and consideration 
than would be expected by a better paid person. The wages of 
the women are now the same, pretty much, as those of the men. 
The number of persons who would like to have these positions 
is large. In the usual type of organization other than ours, every 
member knows instinctively that it is good business to get along 
with his foreman without quarrels and without complaint. Xo 
efficient concern will have as much running to the man higher up 
as is encouraged by our traditions. You can't stop aggrieved per- 
sons appealing from requirements made of them and ought not to 
stop it, but the confidential recital of alleged wrongs which used 
to be so common a characteristic of the old political system could 
be diminished very considerably if there were a gentlemen's agree- 
ment that all the parties concerned would be given participation 
in all the interviews and there would be no interview otherwise. 
This is a stiff proposition for a school system but it is what the 
writers on organization and management of all sorts of systems are 
demanding. The fair deal, the abolition of the star chamber, play- 
ing the game above the table, fifty-fifty, are phrases indicating this 

56 



trend and found in the current works on supervision. Loyalty is 
too essential to be lightly destroyed by a hope of righting personal 
wrongs. Allegiance upwards and downwards is weaker in the 
school system than it needs to be. 

113. If I am assigned to a division next year, I should like 
an understanding that complaints regarding principals or teachers 
are not to be made to me informally and off hand but as formal 
appeals which will be transmitted for reply to the person con- 
cerned. If this is magnifying little hurts into momentous ques- 
tions for arbitration, it is also conducive to endurance of some 
little hurts as good exercise of the patience that belongs to the 
day's work. 

114. I would like to publish that, so far as my supervision of 
a division is concerned, anonymous letters, whether complaining of 
teachers or of principals, have been discarded from modern school 
management and go unread. 

Costs 

115. It is, to every writer upon business management, astonish- 
ing how little the head of a school knows about the cost of it and 
about the cost distribution. It is the characteristic of educational 
systems to keep the purely educational staff in ignorance of finan- 
cial facts. The schoolmaster is not a participant in financial poli- 
cies because he is impractical. He is made more impractical by 
keeping him out of financial policies. Whole volumes of "effi- 
ciency" literature are devoted to keeping track of costs, reducing 
waste and making a dollar produce a maximum result. The long 
disinclination of educators to consider cost obligations has made 
them the victims of much contempt felt by "practical" men. When 
such men have control of the allotment of taxes to school activities, 
the schoolmaster who has no sense of costs and equivalent services 
stands low. I recommend for practical problems in arithmetic a 
principal's computation of how much money, including salaries, 
heat, light, supplies, up-keep and interest upon investment is being 
expended per year under his personal direction for the training of 

57 



children. I saw one principal's computation that his school was 
costing the City $1,364 a day, $273 an hour, $4.55 a minute. 
Palavering in the assembly of that school, getting ready to get ready 
to get ready, was throwing away much good money. There is, in 
the aggregate, an enormous money waste in the course of the year, 
due to lack of realization that every minute of school time is paid 
for and should not be drivelled away on ill-considered use of time, 
unprepared haphazard performances. In some Brooklyn schools 
the teachers are training children to habits of application as early 
as ten o'clock on the first day of the term as if it were a Wednesday 
of the middle of the year. In some schools there is purposeful 
instruction given as late as three o'clock of the last day of June. 
I recommend that the principals who operate their plant full time 
on an efficiency basis be singled out for special reward as defenders 
of the schools against the ever growing charges of loose and waste- 
ful administration. 

School System All Wron"g 

116. Teachers have come with a statement that their principals 
regard them as utter failures. On investigation it has been found 
that the principal had insisted, as he should have done, on better 
penmanship or pupils more habituated to doing their sums twice 
before handing in the answers. Mention of a specific fault has, 
been translated into complete condemnation. A man who says that 
the graduates coming to his store can't spell, write or figure, is 
accused of saying the schools are a complete failure. This is non- 
sense. A similar treatment of this report which recites some needs 
of Brooklyn schools as known to me would result in the absurd 
statement that I, because I do not say it is all right, say the school 
system is all wrong. There is an easy and lazy fashion of school 
supervision which holds that many schools being good, surely some 
poor ones may be tolerated. There are in some Brooklyn school 
principals traces of a fear dating from the days of pull and politics 
that any one using in school supervision the methods of efficiency 
successful in other management will get himself disliked. Such a 

58 



notion might be natural in the holder of an elective office but a 
principal has such a grip on his position that he can really compel 
his school to make good and still hold his place. There is a push 
for better work in schools. It is nation wide. There is nothing 
to be gained by calling it "attack." It does not demand more ex- 
hausting work. It demands a different kind. I think the new 
service required is more interesting, more enjoyable than the tradi- 
tional sort which has failed to make school the alluring place for 
teachers and children which an educational plant ought to be. The 
drudgery of teaching will have to go before the calling reaches the 
status of a "profession" about which we hear so much. 

117. My propositions are intended to make the business more 
definite, results more demonstrable, separation of cheap work from 
artistry more easy and the general tone of the employment more 
respectable. 

118. I know of so many persons in the Brooklyn part of the 
system who profess the same hopes that I should like the freedom 
and the facilities for working out the plans here proposed. It in- 
volves no cessation of praise and encouragement. It means reward 
based on evidence. It means a recognition of the rights of the 
community as of more importance than our own. 

Summary of Eecommendations 

119. Every school system I know of accumulates a collection of 
reports in which definite propositions go no farther than to become 
academic literature. This is due in part to the judgment of re- 
cipients of the reports that the propositions are unworkable or 
inopportune or of less importance than other pressing demands. 
But in considerable measure, the neglect of recommendations is 
due to the fact that the reporter suggests work to be done by some 
one else. In the present case, the propositions are suggestions of 
what I will try to do if assigned to the Brooklyn Divisions and 
given responsibility and authority to carry out the prospectus. 

120. I submit a summary of these propositions. The numbers 
refer to paragraphs. 

59 



a. Provide by cooperation with the Brooklyn Teachers' Asso- 
ciation for definition and renewal of modern educational ideals by 
a professional bulletin issued to all teachers free, and by Saturday 
meetings supplanting the superintendent's Saturday morning office 
hour. No. 57. 

b. Rely more on councils of principals and teachers. No. 90. 

c. Invite a committee of employers to submit definite statements 
of what they expect of a public school graduate. Submit this to 
principals, citizens and local boards. Formulate a list of such 
habits and abilities as are chiefly and secondarily the purpose of 
school. Nos. 44, 59. 

d. Make a tentative set of standards for estimating the preva- 
lence of such habits and abilities. No. 63. 

e. Discuss and apply suggestions furnished by the New York 
Board of Education's Division of Eeference and Research. No. 58. 

f. Induce some principals of large schools to try the plan of 
providing for an eighth year schedule which groups' pupils for 
special treatment in spelling, writing and mathematical results, 
according to their tested ability. No. 34. 

g. Introduce practice in mathematical computation and in 
spelling as entertaining features of assembly exercises. No. 36. 

h. Encourage a series of meets for contests between classes and 
schools in spelling, writing and figuring. Nos. 38, 39. 

i. Supplant the slightly valued efficiency record given to gradu- 
ates by one which rates abilities about which employers desire in- 
formation. Print upon new permanent record cards which accom- 
pany pupils from grade to grade, provision for rating these abilities 
in sixth, seventh and eighth years. Nos. 95, 96, 97. 

j. Revise the system of rating teachers. "It is a fake." Con- 
sider with voluntary councils the rating plans published by the 
Division of Research. Make increase of success, as demonstrable in 
work done, a condition of increase of pay. Nos. 99, 110. 

k. Agree that informal complaints will not be received from 
members of the system. All parties complained of will either be 
present or will receive the complaints in writing. Nos. 112, 113, 
114. 

60 



1. Encourage pupils' patrols for keeping buildings clean. No. 
71. 

m. Institute an examination of the amount of clerical work re- 
quired of the schools and take steps to reduce it. No. 86. 

n. Advise principals that office work by them before noon should 
be abandoned in favor of class inspection and examination. No. 85. 

o. Prepare from observation of the best managed schools a 
monograph showing disposition of routine and of higher func- 
tions. No. 89. 

p. Emphasize upon school managers a knowledge of daily and 
hourly cost of instruction and the principal's function as an agent 
to guard against salary waste as well as misuse of other money 
expenditures. No. 115. 

q. Eeward the principals who secure steady work of teachers 
and pupils on opening days and on days preceding vacations. No. 
115. 

r. Detail two teachers for actual class tests through the schools 
as directed by the Division Superintendent. No. 70. 

s. Make the short out-door march on "Flag Day" an annual 
custom. No. 77. 

t. Let Brooklyn principals have this report early in September, 
1915. No. 87. 

Eespectfully submitted, 

Wm. McAndrew, 

Superintendent, Divisions -4 and 5, Constituting Elementary 
Schools of Brooklyn. 



61 



INDEX 



(Numbers refer to paragraphs) 



Accuracy, 24 

Abilities wanted by employers, 44, 

59, 120c 
Adamson, Robert, 73 
Adding twice, 24 
Addition test, 18-1 
Ahearn Law, 105 
Aim of class work evident, 81 
Anemic, classes for, 14 
Anonymous communications, 114 
Appeals, 113 

Arithmetic contests, 38, 120h 
Arithmetic, pleasure in, 33 
Arithmetic practice, 36, 120g 
Arithmetic strain, 38 
Associations, professional, 53 
Attainments, pupils, estimate of, 92 

Blind, classes for, 14 
Board of Estimate Inquiry, 79 
Brooklyn, growth of schools, 70 
Brooklyn schools, reputation of, 2 
Brooklyn Teachers' Association, 53, 

120a 
Buildings, condition of, 71, 120, 1 
Bulletin, 57, 120a 
Business tests, 15-27 

Campbell, "William A., 77 
Character building, definite, 45 
Cheering the principal, 90 
Chicago conferences, 54 
Chicago Official Magazine, 56 
Churchill, T. W., 84 
Cleanliness of buildings, 71, 72 
Clerical work, 84-89, 120m 
Close of term, 115, 120o 
Complaints, treatment of, 112, 120k 
Concert, 74-76 

Conferences, 54, 57, 90, 99, 120a 
Conferences, educational, 54, 57 
Contests, arithmetic, etc., 38, 120h 
Cost of Brooklyn schools, 109 
Costs, knowledge of, 115, 120p 
Council, Principals', 54, 57, 90, 120b 
Council, Teachers', 90, 100, 101, 120b 
Courtis tests, 24 
Crippled, classes for, 14 
Criticisms, 15, 16, 40, 103-114, 116, 
117 

Deaf, classes for, 14 
Decentralization, 78 
Delinquents, classes for, 14 
Department store tests, 15-27 
Discipline of staff, 112-114 
Dismissal, rapid, 73 
District Superintendents, 3, 5, 70 
Division, what is a, 3 
Division Superintendent, duties of, 
3 * i 



Division report, what it should be, 
8 

Division of Reference and Re- 
search, 13, 58, 120e 

Draper, A. S., 90 

Drill, interested, 36 

Drudgery in schools, 35 

Eagle, Brooklyn, 73 
Eagle, spelling bee, 39 
Economy, 62, 109, 115 
Eddy, W. H., arithmetic contest, 38 
Educational measurements, 98 
Education, what is an? 46 
Efficiency records, general, 64-70, 78 
Efficiency records of graduates, 91- 

97, 120i 
Efficiency records of teachers, 98- 

114 
Efficiency standards, 59-63, 100 
Eighty-nine, School No., 13 
Elliot on purpose of schools, 46 
Emerson, Harrington, 49, 64 
Employers, abilities wanted bv, 43, 

44, 59, 93-97, 120c 
Employers, cooperation with, 96 
Employers, tests by, 17 
Employment, canvass on, IS 
Estimate, Board of, inquiry, 79 
Estimate of pupil's attainments, 92 
Estimates and results, 31 
Ettinger, William L., 11, 12 
Evening schools, 14 
Examination of schools, 70, 120r 
Examiner, influence of, 30 
Exhibitions, arithmetic, spelling, 

etc., 38 

Finley, John H., 90 

Fire drills, 73 

Fit and meritorious, 102 

Five, School No., 36 

Flag Day, 77, 120s 

Forty-three, School No., 72 

Fractions, test in, 18-2 

Freedom, 78 

Friedsam, Michael, quoted, 15 

Gantt, 49 

Gartlan, Geo., 77 

Gary system, 13 

Graduate, desired abilities of, 41-48 

Graduates criticised, 15 

Group teaching, Arithmetic, etc., 34, 

120f 
Guess and result, 31 

Hand book for teachers, 98, 99 

Hanus, Paul, 79 

High schools, 14 

High schools and elementary school 



62 



(Numbers refer to paragraphs) 



records, 92 
Hollister, 69 

Ideals, 50 

Ideals vs. standards, 62 
Industrial training, 11, 12 
Inquiry, Board of Estimate, 79 
Inspection, 66, 70, 82, 83, 100, 120r 
Investigation, Hanus, 79 

Janitors, supervision of, 71 
Jordan, on purpose of school, 46 

Kaufman, 49 

Kirk, on purpose of school, 46 

Knack, the, 33 

Large school, management of, 89, 

120o 
Lectures, 14 
Letter writing, 18-3 
Local School Boards, 44, 59, 120c 

Magazine, official, 56, 57 
Management, instances of efficient, 

71-77 
Marks, teachers', 98-114 
Masses, management of, 71-77 
Maxwell, "William H., on purpose of 

school, 46 
Measurements, school, 98 
Meetings of teachers, 54, 57, 120a 
Meets, arithmetic, etc., 38, 120h 
Meritorious service, 102 
Message test, 18-3 
Method, credit for, 25 
Metz, Herman A., 84 
Mitchel, John P., 103 
Model lesson, 82 
Mordorf, Oliver C, 73 

Newspapers, attention to school 

matter, 2 
Newspapers, criticisms by, 15, 16, 

65, 103, 106 
Newton, Wallace, 78 
Nineteen, School No., 73 

Obedience of principals, 80, 81 

O'Donnell, J. A., 72 

Office hour, a waste, 55, 57, 112, 

120n 
Office, principals in the, 82, 83 
One hundred thirty-nine, School 

No., 73 
Opening of term, 115, 120q 
Originality of principals, 80, 81 

Pedagogy reviled, 52 
Penmanship test, 18-2, 3 
Periodical, official, 56, 57 
Periodicals, professional, 51 
Personal product of schools, 42, 46 
Pettingill, Mrs. B. F., 104 
Plan, necessity of a, 48, 82 
Playgrounds, 14 
Pleasure in arithmetic, 33 
Prendergast, William A., 103 



Principal, an efficiency record of, 

6 7, 68 
Principal, loss in salary, 90 
Principals' conferences and coun- 
cils, 54, 57, 90, 120b 
Principals, delegating their duties, 

88 
Principal's increased responsibility, 

78 
Principals in their offices, 82, 83 
Principal's morning, 85 
Principal's obedience, 80, 81 
Principals, promotion of, 66 
Principal, what is he for? 45 
Principal, where he ought to be, 82, 

83 
Professional advancement, 50-58 
Professional literature, 51, 52 
Professional Teachers' Association, 

103 
Promotion of principals and teach- 
ers, 66, 105 
Publication, official, 56, 57 
Public interest in Brooklyn schools, 

2 
Pull and politics, 116 

Rafferty, John W., 73 

Rapid dismissal, 73 

Ratings, teachers', 98-114, 120j 

Rating of teachers, number of mer- 
itorious marks, 111 

Reading by teachers, 52 

Recommendations, 120 

Records, efficiency, 64-70, 78 

Records of pupils' efficiency, 91-97 

Records of teachers' efficiency, 98- 
114 

Reference and Research, Division 
of, 13, 58, 89, 98, 99, 120e 

Report for a devision, what it 
should be, 8 

Reports, waste in, 82, 89, 120m 

Representation of schools in Board 
of Superintendents, 3 

Responsibility of principal, 78 

Results, 70, 81, 102, 106, 109, 118 

Results, record of, 69 

Retarded, classes for, 14 

Revision of ideals, 50-58 

Rooms, care of, 72 

Roosevelt, Theodore, 105 

Rules, relaxed, 90 

Saengerfest, 74-76 

Salaries, 52 

Salaries and service, 103-114 

Salaries, reduction of, 111 

Salary, not adjusted to service, 105 

Salary, principals', depreciation of, 

90 
Sales slip, 18-2 
Samplers, 70 
Sanitary squad, 72, 120, 1 
Saturdav educational meetings, 54, 

57, 120a 
School Boards, Local, 44, 59, 120c 



(Numbers refer to paragraphs) 



School management, outline needed, 

89 
School measurements, 98 
Schools, examination of, 70, 120r 
Schools, inspection of, 70 
School system all wrong, 116 
School, what it is for, 45 
Science of supervision, 49 
Self correction, 24, 27 
Seventy-eight, School No., 73 
Shiels, Albert, 58 
Sixty per cent, civilization, 26 
Smith, Adam, 104 
Smith, Floyd R., 74-76 
Smith, on purpose of schools, 46 
Societies, educational, 53 
Somers, Arthur S., 84 
Speed, 24 

Spelling bee, Eagle, 39 
Spelling test, 18-3 
Springer, Isadore, 98 
Standards, 59-63, 69, 98, 120d 
Standards vs. ideals, 62 
Strain, arithmetic, 38 
Strayer, 69 
Summary of recommendations, 119 

120 
Superintendents, decrease of, 70 
Superintendents, district, 3, 5, 70 
Superintendent, Division, 3, 8 
Supervision, science of, 49 
Swanstrom, J. Edward, 84 



Teachers assigned to testing, 70, 

120r 
Teachers' Association, Brooklyn, 53, 

120a 
Teachers' Associations, 53 
Teachers' Bulletin, 57, 120a 
Teachers' Council, 90, 100, 101, 120b 
Teachers' meetings, 54, 57, 120a 
Teachers, promotion of, 66 
Teachers, records of their efficiency, 

98-114, 120j 
Teachers' Year Book, 98 
Telephones, evil of, 85 
Testing, 82, 83 
Testing results, 70 
Tests by employer, 15-32 
Thorndike, 69 
Trade school, 12 
Truancy, 14 

Vacation schools, 14 

Variation in tests, 32 

Veit, Benjamin, 74 

Vlymen, William T., arithmetic 

drills, 36 
Vocational training, 11, 12 
Volunteer, spirit of, 90 

Waste, 115 

Wirt, William, 13 

Women principals on ratings, 107 

Young, Ella Flagg, 54 



64 



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